I wonder if you have ever considered that the solution to discontentment almost always seems to be more. If I only had more money I would be content. If I only had more followers, more possessions, more beauty, then at last I would consider myself successful. If only my house was bigger, my influence wider, my sales higher. Then, at last, I would achieve the contentment that has been so elusive.
The trouble, of course, is that “more” is a changing and escalating standard rather than a stable one. No matter what you have, there is still more to be had. Even if you earn more there is still more to earn and even if you achieve more there is still more to achieve. The pursuit of more is an endless pursuit. More is a thankless master.
Part of the reason for this is that we don’t usually simply want more. Rather, we want more than—more than another person. No one in the world is content to be the second richest man, the second most beautiful woman, or the second fastest runner. And, for the record, no one is perfectly content to be the richest, most beautiful, or fastest either. Why? Because they know their time will soon be up, and if there’s anything worse than being the second richest in the world it’s being the former richest in the world and if there’s anything worse than being the second most beautiful person in the world it’s being the former most beautiful person—the one whose beauty has long since diminished or whose standard of beauty has long since been supplanted. (Imagine that for the majority of your life it’s said of you, “She used to be so beautiful.”)
The fact is, true contentment rests with what it has, not with what it desires. If you aren’t content with what you’ve got, you won’t be content even if it is multiplied by ten thousand. If you cannot be content with a hundred followers you will not be content with a million. If you cannot be content in lower management you will not be content in the c-suite. If you cannot be content with an amount of money that is sufficient you will not be content with an amount of money that is abundant.
That’s because at this very moment your discontentment is not actually with what you have, with what you have accomplished, or with what you have earned—your discontentment is with God and with what he has provided. Ultimately, your discontentment is Godward. And such discontentment is not resolved by being given more. The only “more” you need is more of God’s Spirit, God’s values, God’s character. It’s sanctification you lack, not success. It’s holiness that stands between you and contentment, not accomplishment.
The path to contentment begins with your current life, your current reality, your current circumstances. It begins with words like the Apostle Paul’s—words written from a prison cell: “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content” (Philippians 4:11). Paul could be content in every situation because he knew that God is sovereign over every situation—that whether in plenty or hunger, in abundance or need, in joy or sorrow, in receiving or surrendering, his circumstances had been decreed by God. He was only ever in the situation that God had determined would most bring Him glory. For that reason he could be content. Success was not in possessing but in obeying, not in accumulating but in serving. He knew the true secret to contentment, and now so do you.
There is a place in the Christian life for drive and ambition, for being the most, having the most, or achieving the most. But the best goals are pursued from contentment instead of for contentment. Satisfied in what God has given and satisfied most ultimately in him, we can press on for more, all the while saying, “Nevertheless, not what I will but what you will.” By his grace God may grant what we desire, knowing we will steward it well. By his grace he may deny it, knowing that what we long for might ruin us. Regardless, we can press on in joy and peace, fully trusting in our wise and generous God.
Tim Challies
Intentional Faith 