Jump Start # 1449

1 Timothy 6:6 “But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.”

Contentment—that’s a wonderful world and a better place to be. Throughout the New Testament, God leads His people to the life of contentment. To be content is to be at peace. It brings the thought of calm within one’s heart and soul. The person who is not content, is stirring. He’s restless. He’s not at ease.

I love the story about a commercial fisherman who was sitting by his boat near the end of a day, just looking out over the water. A tourist, who happened to be a businessman, walked up to the fisherman and asked him if that was his boat. He replied it was. “Why, then,” said the businessman, “are you not out on the water catching more fish? It’s still daylight.” The fisherman softly asked, “Why?” The businessman was infuriated. “Why,” he yelled. “You can catch more fish. Then you could hire more helpers. Then you could buy more boats. Then you could be successful.” The fisherman said, “then what?” The businessman said, “well, then you could sit back and take things easy.” The fisherman looked over the water and said, “I though I already was.”

Contentment is something that is hard to grasp. When it comes to stuff, money, size of TV screens, new cars, square footage in a house, it’s hard to be content. The crazy world we live in drives and pushes us and tells us you need more. You need the latest I—whatever, I-phone, I-pad, I-gadget. Commercials drive that thought into us. Parents battle that with their kids. They get the “Gimmes” every time they go to the store. Gimme this and gimme that and some will put up a big fuss and create a storm if they don’t get it and get it right now.

However, there are areas in life that we ought never to be contented with. That’s the struggle with this principle. Some things I must learn to be patient and content and other areas I should never be content. The problem often is that we get these mixed up and find ourselves in quite a mess.

Here are some things that we ought never to be content with:

• A lost soul. This is especially true when it’s a dear friend or a family member. They chose not to know the Lord. They seem happy to live without eternity in their sights. We can’t settle for that. We just can’t let them go. We continue to send the hounds of Heaven after them. We continue to pray. We continue to talk to them. We continue to share things. We continue to let your light shine before them. We continue… We are never content to let them be lost. Never.

• The condition of a congregation. Far too many are content with staleness, indifference and complacency of a church. They are satisfied with just the way things are. They are happy if things remain as they are. If there is little growth, little movement, few plans they don’t seem to be concerned about that. Who will be the next leaders? They are content with things as they are and do not give that any thought. We ought never to be content in this area. Sheep need to be led to develop, grow and become mighty in the Lord. Tired preachers preaching tired sermons to a tired congregation is a sure recipe for nothing. And some are just content with nothing. Shame on us for that.

• Our relationship with the Lord and our depth of knowledge is not something that we ought to be content with. We ought to long for that deeper and closer relationship with God. We ought to hunger for righteousness. We must never get to the point where we no longer yearn for the Lord. This uneasiness within us will push us to read the Bible more. It will make us lower the nets in our minds to find deeper meanings and deeper insights. Our character will become stronger, purer and more righteous as we do this. We must never be satisfied with where we are with the Lord.

• We ought never to be content with this world. We are traveling through enemy territory. We must always keep both eyes open. We cannot be satisfied with this. We must be careful that we do not like things so well here that we lose our taste for Heaven. We must not become friends of the world, as James warns. This world is going an opposite direction than we are. This world defines success, happiness, life, death, marriage in ways that God does not. Satisfied here? Never. We don’t fit in here. We don’t belong here. We need to be some where else. We need to be in Heaven. We must never stop nor quit until we are there.

Contentment is hard. Most of us struggle with that. There’s nothing wrong with stuff. There’s nothing wrong with bigger and newer things. The farmer in Luke 12 who longed to tear down his barns and build bigger ones, wasn’t in trouble for that thought. There’s nothing wrong with bigger barns, bigger houses, bigger cars. His problem and our problem lies in that we feel that those things will bring peace, satisfy our soul, and exclude the need for God. The farmer in Luke never mentioned God. He talked about himself often. He didn’t include God in his plans. He thought he had the future by the tail. He didn’t.

No, it’s not having stuff, it’s whether or not the stuff has us. That’s where contentment comes in. Our stuff can pull us from God. Our stuff can turn us into real monsters, who are stuck up, conceited and blind to the needs of others. Stuff itself doesn’t do that, but it’s what’s in us or not in us that does that. A poor man can have as many of these issues as a rich man.

Content—at peace, calm with in, settled, satisfied—in some areas yes. In other areas, especially spiritually, never.

I hope this helps. It’s something we have to work on all the time.

Roger