Contentment

I have been reading a book titled “Clutter-Free Christianity: What God Really Desires for You” by Robert Jeffress. The book talks about the heart and keeping it clear of things displeasing to God such as Chapter 4, A Forgiving Heart: Clearing Away Anger, Bitterness, and Emotional Knots. Overall the book is good but one chapter has really stood out to me and I wanted to share a passage from it.


Chapter 7 is A Content Heart: Finding More in Less. It can be a struggle to be satisfied with what we have instead of wanting either something more or better. The section I want to share with you is what the author titles “Enhancing God’s Reputation”. He writes:

Imagine that a teacher overhears your child talking to a friend at school, complaining about conditions at home: “Our home is filthy with rats running everywhere. My parents leave me home alone so they can party all night. I go to bed hungry every night, because we don’t have enough to eat.” The concerned teacher immediately contacts child protective services to investigate this obvious case of neglect.

However, when the CPS representative arrives at your home, she’s surprised to find an immaculate house with no rodents in sight, a refrigerator and pantry stocked with food, and parents who give every sign of being attentive caregivers. She then relates to you what the teacher overheard your child saying to a friend. How embarrassed would you be? What would you say to your child once the CPS representative left?

I imagine God is similarly embarrassed when He hears us complaining about our living conditions to anyone who will listen. Children of God who are continually dissatisfied with their circumstances or are anxious about whether they’ll have what they need to survive reflect poorly on their heavenly Father. After all, what unbeliever wants to entrust his or her life- or, for that matter, his or her eternity- to a God who can’t provide life’s basic needs to His own children?

If you are a Christian, you’re a living advertisement for God. People read you as they would a billboard. They watch you like they do a television commercial. And they’re deciding: “Do I want some of what she has or not?”

Their answer largely depends on your level of contentment. You might claim that your relationship with Christ is a source of great fulfillment. But if you constantly pursue more (or better, larger, or different), will anyone really believe your faith satisfies? If you constantly complain about your income, your job, or your family, will a non-Christian really believe you when you claim, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life”?

Becoming like Jesus Christ involves embracing Jesus’ life purpose: to glorify God. Jesus Himself declared: I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thos hast given Me to do (John 17:4).

To glorify God simply means to make God look good to other people. Contentment- satisfaction with what we have and faith for what we don’t yet have- is a primary way we enhance rather than diminish God’s image. As John Piper wrote, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”