Ruth's Ramblings

Discipline of Contentment: Submission's Rest

(adapted from Barbara Hughes' Disciplines of a Godly Woman, pp. 78-80)

All my longings lie open before you, O Lord.
~ Psalm 38:9

What is Contentment?
"Godliness with contentment is great gain" (1 Timothy 6:6)

Contentment is in short supply today, however - outside or inside the church. According to 2 Peter 1:3, Christians have been given everything we need for life and godliness. If we have everything we need, why is it that so many of us are not content?

We come by it naturally. Eve had everything - the perfect husband, a beautiful environment, and -most astonishing- direct and daily fellowship with God. She walked and talked with Him. Until the time Satan appeared and spoke to her, she had always listened to and obeyed the voice of God. But then she listened to that contrary voice - the one that proposed the notion that God did not have her best interests at heart. The voice told her plainly that God was depriving her of something desirable: "Did God really say...?" Something altogether unfamiliar began to stir in Eve's heart - discontent. She desired something she did not possess, something her loving Creator-God had chosen not to give her.

Interestingly enough, it wasn't the fruit itself that tempted Eve. Apparently, as long as Eve was listening and obeying God's voice, she took little notice of the forbidden fruit. She was utterly content. It was only after she listened to Satan's suggestion that she saw the fruit in a new light, as "good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom" (Genesis 3:6).

We've all inherited Eve's problem... Advertisers capitalize on the fact that the human heart is inclined to discontent; they're only too happy to inform us how to meet our inner longings. We're bombarded with visual images and alluring voices... Everywhere we turn, we are told what we need to make us happy - something we don't already have.

It's difficult to tune out voices all the time. We can't help but be influenced as the call to discontent is shouted from magazine pages, television, the workplace, and even the classroom...

Certainly it's fine to improve our quality of life. But the unchangeable factors in our lives ought to each us that true contentment can only come from God - and that we must seek it in Him alone...

Posted by Ruth at 12/27/2004