The question of contentment is always one that plagues believers, or at least I think it does. So many people want to cling to a rule or a percentage to know if they are "in-line" with what God says about contentment. If I were to be gut honest with you on the issue of contentment, I would say that it absolutely terrifies me. My Americanized brain loves to "justify" my discontentment by saying that I am simply working hard and enjoying the fruits of my labor, when in reality, I'm just bored with where I'm at and what I have.
If you were to take an honest look at the Bible's definition of contentment, I think you would be terrified too. The New Testament level of true contentment is almost as much fun as Jesus' new definition of murder. He always seemed to raise the bar a little higher, just out of reach of our legalistic minds.
John the Baptist starts off pretty easy by saying in Luke 3 to "be content with your wages." Easy enough, right? Maybe not. With the average American saving a whopping NEGATIVE 2% each year, that means we aren't very content with our wages.
Paul takes it to a whole new level and says that he even had to "learn how to be content." You mean to say I'm not born content. Nope. Just look at any nursery in any hospital in America, and you will see a bunch of babes wrapped in swaddling cloths who will need to "learn how to be content" someday.
But good ole' Paul doesn't just stop with an encouragement to be content with whatever you have, he takes it a bit deeper in I Timothy 6:8 and says to "be content with food and clothing." Alright, you've gone too far. I am officially discontent just reading that statement.
But the nail in the coffin on my discontent American soul comes a few pages later in Hebrews 13:5 as the author encourages us to be content with whatever we have because we will always have Jesus.
And so the question comes down to this: Am I content with my wages? Nope. Am I content with food and clothing? Of course not. Am I content with Jesus?
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