The Elements of Contentment, Part 1
How trusting God and practicing satisfaction help us grow in contentment
As we saw in our last post, Christian contentment is joyful acceptance of God’s providence. When we’re fighting for contentment, that’s what we’re fighting for.
In this piece, we want to start talking about how we get there – the elements of thinking, acting, and loving that foster contentment.
Trust
From “Beams of Heaven,” a hymn written by Charles Albert Tindley (hear it sung):
Harder yet may be the fight
right may often yield to might
wickedness a while may reign
Satan's cause may seem to gain
There is a God that rules above,
with hand of power and heart of love
Tindley starts by acknowledging the apparent challenges of life: right seems to yield to might; wickedness may reign. But he turns and gives a statement of trust: There is a God that rules above, with hand of power and heart of love. Despite the apparent lack of justice in the world, he trusts that there is a good God above it.
That trust is the first element of contentment. This is a big part of what separates Christian contentment from that pursued under a Stoic framework or just the belief that “it’s all going to work out” somehow; Christian contentment is rooted in trust in the Christian God.
What about this God helps us have trust?
God is our perfect heavenly Father. JI Packer wrote, “’Father’ is the Christian name for God.” The God of the universe isn’t an abstract Deity distant from the world; he’s a Father who has adopted children from every tribe, tongue, and nation. He has set a love on us that’s more constant and more perfect than any earthly father could ever have. And he works for our good with perfect wisdom, knowing and wanting what is best for us.
God is perfectly in control all things. Again and again, the Bible affirms that God is perfectly in control of the world, even when “wickedness a while may reign.” Though there are brokenness, decay, and evil in the world, “there is a God that rules above.” And he is governing all things in a way that’s going to turn out for the ultimate good of his children.
God has written a perfect end of the story. Trusting God, even trusting that he’s in control, doesn’t mean thinking that everything that happens in the world is good. Instead, we believe the world is like a story that’s not finished yet; and the part we’re in has danger and disappointment.
Our trust is that one day God will stop and re-create the world with no sin or suffering: he’ll finish the story with a happier ending than we could ever imagine. As one of the biblical writers envisions it:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:1-5)
Trusting the perfect ending helps us be content with easy things and hard ones in this chapter of the story.
Satisfaction
Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. (1 Timothy 6:6-9)
Satisfaction is feasting at the table God has laid me. It’s looking at what I have and enjoying it, rather than grumbling over it or coveting someone else’s table. Instead of itching for more – whatever “more” might be – satisfaction looks around and says, “this is enough.”
Satisfaction can seem like a feeling that’s dependent on circumstances – we either have enough to feel satisfied or we don’t – but in reality, satisfaction is much more of a choice. Material wealth has risen astronomically over the last few centuries; but apart from people who are lifted out of abject poverty, satisfaction and happiness have barely moved. We all probably know people who have more than we do with less satisfaction, and people who have less than we do but are more satisfied with their life.
Satisfaction has a “positive” side and a “negative” one, both of which foster contentment. On the positive side, satisfaction looks like gratitude. It’s giving thanks for the blessings currently in our lap, whatever those might be, and savoring them to experience every hint of goodness we can get out of them.
My kids love the Little House books, and the Christmas scene in Little House in the Big Woods is a great illustration of the power of gratitude. Laura and her cousins wake up to their Christmas stockings:
In each stocking there was a pair of bright red mittens, and there was a long, flat stick of red-and-white-striped peppermint candy, all beautifully notched along each side.
They were all so happy they could hardly speak at first. They just looked with shining eyes at those lovely Christmas presents.
Due to the kids’ circumstances and the way they were raised, a new pair of mittens and a stick of peppermint candy make them so thankful they’re speechless.
True gratitude is a double blessing, because it both celebrates what I have and also reminds me that what I have comes from a good Giver. As Chesterton said, “Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” When we’re not just satisfied with what we have but thankful for it, our eyes are on God’s goodness as well as the goodness of what’s around us, which makes it easier to experience satisfaction.
The “negative” side of satisfaction looks like rest. Instead of struggling to get more or sitting and coveting more, satisfaction rests in what God has given us. Like Paul wrote to Timothy, the desire to be rich plunges us into a snare, “into many senseless and harmful desires.” The same wisdom is reflected in the tenth of the Ten Commandments, which is “You shall not covet.”
It’s so easy to compare what we have with what others do, or to think we’d be happier with just that extra thing more; but the reality is that most of us have the actual material conditions we need, and that mindset puts us into a state of restlessness that erodes contentment. Minimalism has kind of trended and ebbed, but the good heart behind it was an effort to rest from the endless pursuit of more stuff.
In practice, this looks like catching myself when I’m tempted to covet and starving that desire instead of feeding it. It may mean changing my habits to avoid social media feeds, websites, or other venues that mainly make me want new things. I might memorize truths like Psalm 23:1 – “Because the Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything I need” (Living Bible version). The more I can teach my heart to rest and be grateful for what I have, the more I’ll find myself satisfied and content.