Contentment 101

Contentment 101

Eve

Read: Genesis 3:6-7

My younger brother’s first job was as a caseworker for the Department of Human Services in a small town. One day, a coworker’s client reported that she had lost her food stamps. Since the woman wouldn’t receive any more stamps for two weeks, the employees pooled what little money they could spare and bought groceries for her. The next day, the woman’s caseworker brought back her response—she complained because the groceries didn’t include enough meat.

This woman had a problem attitude that was first exhibited by Eve in the Garden of Eden. God had provided the perfect environment for meeting all of Eve’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. She was surrounded by beauty and bounty, but when Satan drew her attention to the forbidden tree, Eve experienced discontent for the first time. Her focus shifted from all that she enjoyed to the one thing that God had withheld from her. Her happiness and well-being suddenly seemed to depend on eating fruit from the tree in the middle of the Garden. Nothing else would satisfy her.

We have all inherited the tendency to want more than what we have. When our eyes are drawn toward something that we don’t have, suddenly our houses, furniture, marriages, or families don’t seem to be quite enough. It’s hard to stay focused on our blessings when something else is tempting us. This attitude insults God and inevitably leads us into sin. We can cultivate contentment by asking God to remove our desires for something more and then by trusting him to provide what is best for us. With his help, we will learn to be satisfied—even when we don’t have as much meat or fruit in our diet as we might like.

I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

Philippians 4:11 (NASB)