Contentment

Last night the musical minister spoke at the service due to the pastor being out of town.  His statement sort of shocked me. He said, "I'm a dis-contented person and have come to the realization that contentment is a myth."

Wow. From a minister, that's shocking.  But as he spoke it started to make sense. He said that discontentment can be good - but that it does have a dark side.

It's this dark side that many of us think about when we talk about discontentment.  But its discontentment that makes us better - that drives us to improve.

Looking at contentment that way - it makes sense.  I think we should always strive to improve our relationship with the Lord and others, but we should not strive to make ourselves and our possessions perfect.

Few other thougths he said was that discontentment can make us ungrateful for what we do have - that's one of the dark sides of it. Discontentment can, also, lead us make hasty decisions.

We need to understand our natural tenancy of discontentment. It comes from a deep longing we have.  So many of us try to fill that longing with the things of this world...whether it's possessions or accomplishments. But in reality it will only be filled by the Lord and only completely filled when we are in heaven.

So, the next time you are discontent, take a moment to focus on the Lord.  Seek Him to fill you....not the things and people of this world.  As C.S. Lewis stated,"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."