How Content Are You - Really?

What do you want that you do not have right now?

If you rated your contentment from one to ten, with ten being truly satisfied, where would you land?

Sit with that for a moment. Do you want a new partner? A new car? A new home? More money? A different look? I ask because I have lived inside this wanting. It is familiar. It is tempting. And it never seems to end.

The truth is, many of the things we want could be improved through real goals, a good plan, and the discipline to work that plan. But that is not usually how people respond. Instead, they chase shortcuts. Lottery tickets. Emotional affairs. Addictions. Impulse purchases. All because they want more.

But not everything we want is good for us. You know that. And I know it.

This is why Proverbs hits so hard. “People will never stop dying and being destroyed, and they will never stop wanting more than they have.” (Proverbs 27:20 NCV)

That verse is a mirror. It means the human appetite for “more” is bottomless. Just as the grave never says “That is enough,” the human heart never naturally says, “I am satisfied.”

The craving for more money, more attention, more pleasure, more success, more security never shuts itself off. And if we do not learn to control our cravings, our cravings begin to control us. The wanting itself becomes the thing that destroys us.

I think of my mom every time I read that verse. She lived the opposite of wanting. She was truly content. She drove a used car she kept clean. She bought her clothes at Goodwill. She grew her own food. She did not own a cell phone or a computer. She loved free things. A beautiful day. Her yard. Good piano music. Good friends. Her family. She loved her little Sony stereo. Mowing her grass.

She had so much less than what I was working and striving for, yet she was far more content. I still admire it. Honestly, I wish I lived more like that.

Paul said, “I have learned to be satisfied with the things I have.” (Philippians 4:11 NCV) He learned it, which tells me contentment is not natural. It is taught. It is practiced. It is shaped in us by God.

And this is where the gospel gently resets my heart. My discontent reveals that sometimes I forget what I already have in Jesus. I know that sounds religous, but it’s true.

He left heaven for me. He lived the perfect life I never could. He died to pay for my sins. He rose to give me life. He redeemed me. He made me whole.

“But God shows his great love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans 5:8 NCV) If He gave His life for me, why do I act like I am missing something?

For me? I am learning to be more content, but I also admit I want for nothing. It is almost embarrassing. I do not ask God to strip everything away, yet I know He sometimes allows loss so that the main thing left in our life is Him. And maybe that is His grace too.

So how well have you learned contentment? When is enough, enough?

If we have clean water, a roof over our head, a comfortable bed, clean clothes and linens, and most importantly God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and good friends, then I think we are blessed enough.

Could you say that and mean it? It is a good test for me too. We live better when we count our blessings. More of Christ, less of the world. It’s a good way to live.

LORD, please help me be content with what I have. IJNIP amen ♥️