To be content

Ever notice how some people are never content?

They are the ones that think if they just get that next promotion at work they will be happy. But in truth they won’t. They are the ones that are always hopping from one job to the next thinking the next new job will make them happy. It won’t.

These are the people that strive to get that shiny new car. As soon as they get it, they are already complaining about this or that on the car and eyeing (or coveting more accurately) the new model the Jones next door just purchased.

Maybe they think if they just had this or that woman on their arm they would be happy. Again they won’t.

In John chapter four we read of the time that Jesus met the “woman at the well”. This is a woman who had already been through five husbands and was now shacked up with another. Do you think maybe this woman was a type of person who was never happy, never had enough was always immediately unhappy with whatever or whoever it was that she couldn’t live without until she actually got it or them? I find it interesting that in the course of their discussion Jesus brought up this fact that the woman always seemed to be chasing after (or lusting or coveting after) the “next man” due to never being content with the one she had.

People like this who are never happy, never have “enough” and will never be happy because they have something missing inside them. They have a Jesus sized hole in their heart that only He can fill. But instead of turning to a relationship with the Lord through Jesus they seek for everything else trying to make themselves happy. It won’t work but sadly many try; it is a bit like trying to put a square peg in a round hole.

It is interesting something that Jesus told the woman at the well:

“Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:13-14)

I believe that Jesus saw through this woman and knew why she was never happy, jumping from one husband to another. She needed Jesus to really be content, she needed a real relationship with God to stop her constant chasing after the “next thing” or being in a constant state of coveting over something.

Paul after coming to Christ had learned how to not covet after what others had. He had learned to be content in whatever place or condition the Lord had led him into.

“Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:11-13)

It is so sad that some have never learned this. They have never learned to be happy with wherever God has placed them instead of dwelling on their problems in life.

We read in Acts chapter 16 where Paul and Silas had been beaten with a rod before they were locked in stocks in a dark and dungy prison. Did Paul and Silas whine or get bitter or have a pity party? No Scripture records that around midnight they were praying and singing hymns to God.

Paul was never one to try and keep up with the Jones or always chasing after the next new gizmo or the new job or the next woman that walked by and turned his head. Paul was chasing after one thing, to draw into a deeper relationship with the Lord. Paul realized that storing up treasure on this earth was useless because you cannot take anything with you when you die.

Do you want true peace in your life? A peace that the Bible says surpasses understanding. Then stop chasing after the things of this world always trying to “get ahead” or “one more rung up the ladder” and start chasing after a closer walk with Jesus.

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9)

Stop being focused on the problems of this life and start looking to Jesus. Problems in this life come and go but Jesus promised to be with those who place their faith in Him to the end of this age and beyond.