Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6).
Contentment is something I think about a lot, probably because I tend towards discontentment. There is something in me that longs for more than I have.
“I’ll be happy, or satisfied, or at peace when this obstacle is removed from my life, or I get a new car, or a new job, or I retire, or I lose those extra pounds…” (fill in the blank).
The true root of those longings, I believe, is God-given, but they get twisted in my heart and mind so that the things I long for are not always healthy.
The longing for something more stems from the intrinsic knowledge that there is more to life than what we can experience with our five senses. There is a God who created us for something bigger, better, higher and more satisfying than the things we normally try to fill our lives with. The problem is really an existential question: Why do we exist? What is life about? I believe, intellectually at least (I’m working at getting my heart in line with what I know is true), that true peace and contentment can only be found in knowing God and living the life he designed for me in Jesus.
All the other things I try to fill my life with are distractions and counterfeits.
As I have walked with Jesus, I have experienced his kind of peace many times and this experience of deep satisfaction in him, ironically, makes me thirsty for more.
