Contentment – What’s It Require?

Are you contented? Are you satisfied with where you are in life right now? Well, if you are, stop it!

(At least that’s the message we receive every day from society.)

We won't find the path to contentment in the Sunday
newspaper flyers. Their goal is to create discontent.

In our materialistic, consumer-oriented world, contentment is discouraged. We’re not to be satisfied with what we’ve got – we need more, we need new, we need better! What if Americans from coast to coast became content with what they had? Why, our entire retail structure would crumble. The whole idea is we need to buy new shirts, dresses, shoes, purses, coffeemakers, computers, smartphones, cars and houses. Quit spending, apparently, and it’s the end of life as we have known it.

Even annual economic reports carry the underlying message of discontent. It’s not enough for our nation’s businesses to duplicate what they did the year before; they must do better, hopefully by several percentage points. And they need to do the same the next year.

I could give more examples, but we all know what being discontented feels and looks like. Because we experience it – maybe even today. So, when I came across an online listing entitled, “10 Signs You Are Doing Well in Life,” it caught my attention because it presents a very different perspective on what contentment is – or should be. Here’s the list of “Signs”:

1.     You have a roof over your head

2.     You ate today

3.     You have a good heart

4.     You wish good for others

5.     You have clean water

6.     Someone cares for you

7.     You strive to be better

8.     You have clean clothes

9.     You have a dream

10.  You’re breathing

Sadly, for countless millions of people around the world – including many in the U.S.A. – if that’s what contentment requires, then they have every right to feel discontented. Four items listed – a roof (somewhere to live), food, water and clothing – are tangible needs that far too many people lack. For those of us who do have these things, we ought to have two responses: 1) be thankful, and 2) consider how we could help those who don’t.

The other six items on the list, however, aren’t tangible. They’re states of mind, perspectives. Too many people lack them as well. In our increasingly negative, hate-filled, intolerantly “tolerant” culture, finding someone with a good heart and who wishes good for others is a treasure.

Equally priceless is someone who cares for us, especially those who do so unconditionally, despite our many flaws and weaknesses. When so many men, women and children are forgotten, isn’t it a blessing to have someone who cares for us?

Striving to be better often ties into having a dream. I have friends who not only have cultivated those qualities for themselves, but also have dedicated their lives to helping others do the same. Lacking a dream – having no hope for a brighter future, or to be a better person in one way or another – can become a virtual death sentence.

The last item on the list, the fact that we’re breathing for another day, means we have a chance to strive for and attain the other nine. And perhaps, to assist others in their own striving.

Contentment, as we might expect, receives prominent attention in the Bible. Writing to his young protégé, Timothy, the apostle Paul admonished, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” (1 Timothy 6:6-8).

Speaking to the throngs that followed Him, Jesus urged them to trust and find contentment in what God provides: “Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin…if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith! And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying…your Father knows that you need these things. But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you” (Luke 12:27-31).

Our society broadcasts the mantra, “Don’t be content. Don’t settle for where you are, or for what you have. You must do better!” To this the Scriptures respond, “give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God” (Proverbs 30:8-9).

Following Paul’s advice, if we pursue godliness, finding satisfaction with whatever chooses to God provide – whether it be a lot or just enough to meet our needs – contentment won’t be far behind.

The Problematic Promise of Prosperity

Who is not in favor of prosperity? No one I know. Singer Sophie Tucker once said, “I’ve been rich, and I’ve been poor, and rich is better.” Even if we can’t relate to the rich part, if given a choice none of us would opt for poor. At the very least, it’s nice to have a few dollars still in the bank when the next paycheck arrives.

In the business world, prosperity is of paramount importance. It’s reflected in the “bottom line,” measuring whether a company is profitable and how well it’s serving its shareholders. Regularly the media report on economic indicators, showing whether our country as a whole is prospering. Presidents are evaluated in part by the flows and ebbs of U.S. prosperity during their terms.

Prosperity is a concern even for non-profits, including churches. If contributions aren’t sufficient, not only to cover expenses but also to empower organizations in pursuit of their respective missions, potential beneficiaries of their services will suffer.

So prosperity’s always a good thing, right? Not necessarily. In fact, if we’re not careful, prosperity can distract us, even steer us down the wrong road.

Do you have a hold on your things --
or do they have a hold on you?

C.S. Lewis, a one-time atheist who became an ardent Christian apologist and author of beloved books on faith for both adults and children, came to that conclusion. In The Screwtape Letters, Lewis observed: “Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that he is ‘finding his place in it,’ while really it is finding its place in him. His increasing reputation, his widening circle of acquaintances, his sense of importance, the growing pressure of absorbing and agreeable work, build up in him a sense of being really at home in earth.”

The Bible describes followers of Jesus as “aliens and strangers” on earth (Hebrews 11:13 and 1 Peter 2:11), but prosperity has a way of making us feel right at home – and reluctant to leave. In addition, having all of our needs met as well as many of our wants can greatly diminish our sense of dependence on God.

Perhaps this is why the writer of the next to last chapter in Proverbs declared, “…give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God” (Proverbs 30:8-9).

In the 1960s, Americans were settling into the post-World War II economic boom, beginning an unprecedented era of material prosperity. About the same time, judicial edicts and legislation were being formulated that essentially declared our exalted nation no longer needed God. Seems the writer in Proverbs might have been right. Coincidence – or direct correlation?

Jesus did not oppose prosperity outright, but offered these words of warning: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Three verses later He declared, “You cannot serve both God and money.”

Does this mean we should err on the side of caution by taking vows of poverty or practicing lives of self-denial? This might be the Lord’s call for some, but for most of us it’s more a matter of being diligent to maintain a proper perspective about God, ourselves and our stuff. We find the guideline for this in the Old Testament book of Joshua, where God is providing instructions to the man who has just replaced Moses as the leader of the huge, wandering band of Israelites:

“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful” (Joshua 1:8).

If we strive to keep God foremost in our lives, focusing on His truths and principles, we can succeed in avoiding the trap of letting our material possessions become idols and mini-gods in our daily lives. True prosperity, we’re told, is living according to God’s “owner’s manual” and becoming everything He intended for us to be. Whether that means hefty savings accounts and residences fit for Better Homes & Gardens and HGTV, or just having the satisfaction of paying the bills every month, what matters is being “prosperous and successful” from His point of view.

What is prosperity to you? As Jesus would say, it depends on where your treasure is.

Pitfalls of Prosperity

I’m all for prosperity. Somebody once said, “I’ve tried living with money, and I’ve tried living without money. I like living with money better.” I concur with that perspective, although I’ve never pursued wealth and have never achieved it. And I’ve never been as “dead broke” as Hillary Clinton claims to have been.

But prosperity is a peculiar thing. While it’s certainly preferable to the alternative, there rarely seems a moment when we conclude, “That’s good. It’s all I need.” Many people ascribe to the mantra, “Too much is never enough.” Take the mega-million dollar athletes and entertainers, for example. Despite having achieved riches beyond anything people in many of the world’s societies could even dream of, we hear grumbling and complaining as if they’re paupers, anxious to renegotiate compensation as soon as possible.

But there’s another perplexing aspect of prosperity. It’s the tendency to forget our roots, to lose sight of what got us from where we were to where we are now. This is also true spiritually. In times of need, including financial distress, we cry out to God for His help and intervention. But once the crisis has passed, and prosperity has returned, it’s easy to forget the source of our deliverance.

This was repeatedly the case for ancient Israel. God bailed them out time after time, only to see their gratitude and devotion wane as their prosperity surged. In Deuteronomy 8:11-14 the Israelites were warned, “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, lest – when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and you silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God….”

Curiously, this almost seems like a description of the United States today. Founded on Judeo-Christian principles and values, our post-World War II nation experienced an unprecedented explosion of prosperity. Home ownership, once only a faint hope for the great majority, suddenly became reality. Cars were no longer only for the privileged, and garages were added to houses. Consumerism and materialism began taking hold, and despite economic ups and downs, their grip remains strong and unrelenting.

As a consequence, we as a society seem to have decided we don’t need God. It’s become easy to deny He exists. In a twist from “I think, therefore I am,” we don’t think of God, therefore He isn’t. Supposedly there are no atheists in foxholes, but out of the foxhole we believe – or disbelieve – whatever we want. And if we feel self-sufficient, why bother with God?

Perhaps that’s one reason the apostle Paul wrote, “The love of money is a root of many kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). It not only contributes to sins such as greed, coveting, overindulgence, pride and hoarding, but also takes our focus from God, whom the Bible tells us is the giver of every good thing, shifting it onto ourselves and our stuff.

This is hardly new to human behavior. As the writer of Proverbs 30:8-9 wisely pleaded, “… Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, that I not be full and deny You and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or that I not be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God.…”

So despite hand-wringing over economic uncertainties, we in the United States remain perhaps the most prosperous society in history. While the poor in some countries live in squalor – African huts, Brazilian favelas and Hispanic barrios, all homes consisting of scrap materials – many of our poor possess cars, wide-screen TVs and cell phones. Poverty and prosperity are relative.

The upshot of all of this is we, like the people of ancient Israel, have collectively decided, “Who needs God?”, replicating the pattern the Israelites modeled: “all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes” (Judges 17:6).

As we scan the landscape of society, observing the craziness that’s transpiring these days, this doesn’t necessarily seem like a good thing. Maybe prosperity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.