Being Content
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” Hebrews 13:5-6 NIV
Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines contended as, “feeling or showing satisfaction with one’s possessions, status, or situation.” Admittedly, this is something I have struggled with lately. I am not sure why. I am content with my marriage, my kids, my church and finally even with my friends. However, I am struggling to be content with things…material things.
Yet, I know better. Still I have found myself engaged in a flesh struggle of wanting what I can’t have
The Christmas shopping season seems to bring out the overspending shopper in me. I know gifts are fun and the kids look forward to it all year – but I really don’t want gifts to be the focus. Last year, the day after Christmas, my daughter said to me: “All I really got for Christmas that I wanted was a Razor scooter.” I threatened to take all the gifts that she “didn’t want” to a homeless shelter – but of course I did not (but I really should have). So this year, I am trying hard not to get caught up in buying gifts. But out of the blue, this competition thing kicks in. For example, we have bought the children a Playstation 2 for Christmas. The Playstation 2 runs a good $100-$150 cheaper than Wii and XBOX. So for our budget and purpose the Playstation 2 makes the most sense. Everyone around us is getting their children Wii’s. Do you know that I actually considered taking the Playstation back and buying a Wii? I am glad sanity set in and said “no” to the temptation.
Then, this past week I “cat sat” for my neighbors. I always watch their cats when they go out town so a few times a year I go in and out of their home. I can’t help but notice when they get new things. This time, there was a lot of new stuff: new furniture, new carpet, new wood floors, new appliances and 3 (yes 3) new flat screen plasma televisions (one of which is about a 70” one!). Then I see their home, about 500 square feet bigger than mine. I constantly second guess the decision to build the smaller house we built. I think we should have built bigger – better.
1 Timothy 6:8 says:
But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
God has blessed us over and over. Our family only has the things it has because God saw fit to provide us with jobs and spared us extra expenses. We have had relatively decent health insurance. In the Florida real estate market, we actually have a home that we can afford the taxes on – a bigger house means a bigger tax bill. My husband has a job and we are able to provide Christmas for our children.
See, this is exactly what I have to do. When I begin to feel discontent or competitive, I have to begin to simply thank God for the blessings He has given us. Recognizing that at any moment it all can be stripped away. As I was reading around on blogs after I had written a draft of this devotion, I found over at Pulpit Magazine this post on steps to be contended. It was confirmation that I needed.
As this Christmas season gets into full swing, I don’t want to be burdened with discontentment. I want to have a thankful heart. I don’t want to be a hypocrite by preaching to my children to be thankful when I am struggling to be content. It might do our whole family well to spend a day serving others in need this Christmas. Just simply to remind us it is good to be content. It is always good to acknowledge that God is enough and refocus all those feelings towards a growing relationship with the Lord. After all, He is the reason!!
Dear gracious Father, You are enough! You are all I need. I know I don’t need material things to find happiness. Lasting contentment comes from my relationship with You which through that brings a joyful and thankful heart. Lord, please keep me from falling into a pit of discontentment. Thank you for your many blessings on my home, my children and my husband. Help us to keep You as the focus of the Christmas season, not games, toys or gifts. In Jesus name I pray, AMEN.
Dana,
Thank you for this post. It is so need this time of year. I appreciate you!!
Thank you.
Dana,
This is such a lovely and timely post.
Thanks for sharing
Bless you dear Dana.
You know, that is so true. We sometimes just look around and see what others have. We start looking at what we have and our heart sinks. When I start thinking like that, I ask myself “Are they really happy?” “Do they know Him?”
One thing my earthly dad always reminded off is that we can not take anything we have with us after we die…we won’t need it, because we have everything we will ever need!
Thank you so much for sharing, Dana. Blessings to you and yours.
It has only taken me 28 Christmases to get the point of contenment.(My oldest daughter will be 29 in January.) Over spending has been a big thing in our house hold between my husband and I. I want to spend and spend and my husband want to spread out the gifts to include other months of the year. For the past few months I have had the desire to spend on my girls what I think they need. They are adults and I relized that what they really want is a healthy Mom. Thank you for your thoughts.
Dana, Thanks for you honesty. For a long time I found myself looking at other people’s homes and “stuff” and immediately the coveting began. But if I cut out the comparisons, the contentment was easier to hold onto.