All week long the Bible verse “godliness with contentment is great gain” has been coming to me! (see 1 Timothy 6:6) What is God telling me? I realized that I had a tendency (that I think I share with all of fallen humanity) to not be satisfied. This can come up in subtle ways that I don’t recognize as a lack of contentment with what God has given me or who He has made me to be or with the current life circumstances in which God has placed me.
I am thankful that the Holy Spirit is bringing this hidden tendency into the Light. Otherwise, it would just keep tripping me up without my knowing what the problem really is. You can’t really repent and be freed of something until you can recognize it and name it. Not recognizing the underlying problem of lack of acceptance of what God has made or provided can lead into temptations and sins of various kinds. But the real problem that fuels these is the underlying condition of the heart which, in this case, is this lack of acceptance of oneself and one’s circumstances.
As I have been allowing the Lord to surface this issue, I also became more aware of what a malignant influence our culture has on this fallen tendency that we all share. Just think of all the dissatisfaction and lack of contentment that advertising and the media fuels.
One example keeps jumping out at me as I watch home reno programs: look at the kind of kitchen people are now led to feel is acceptable. No longer just a primarily functional room, it must have furniture grade cabinetry, high-end appliances, ceramic or wooden floors, an island, huge amounts of storage for ever increasing gadgetry, several different kinds of lighting, stone surfaces, etc., etc. These features are indeed beautiful but when people begin to think of these luxuries as basic necessities without which one feels deprived and lacking, gasoline is poured on the fire of our fallen tendency toward discontentment with what God provides.
Another example is in the area of physical appearance. The standards seem to go ever higher. Now men are included in the quest for the perfect body. Anorexia and eating disorders are increasing and, already alarmingly present in young women, are spreading to young men. Everything about one’s external appearance must be perfect. There is a great increase in cosmetic surgery and some become addicted to it. I am sure you can think of celebrities where clearly this has gone too far. While it is good to look after the body that God has given you, it is a wonderful thing to just appreciate who God has made you to be in your uniqueness.
What other examples come to your mind that exemplify this pattern of “never enough” for you personally and in our culture?
When I was getting some dental work done this week, my dentist was preparing my tooth for a crown. He was trying to get it perfect. After working on it for a considerable time, he said something interesting to which I couldn’t respond because his fingers were in my mouth: “Sometimes better is the greatest enemy of good.” I am so thankful that he cares about his work and his patients so much and wants to do a really good job. But, there is a point where one has to say: “it’s done”. If I waited for these blog postings to be perfected, I would never publish anything!
There are areas of our lives that need changing by God’s grace but first we have to accept where we are and be thankful for the progress that has already been made. This is true at every level—for each individual, marriage, family, friendship, small group, pastorate, parish, diocese, denomination, and ultimately for the whole church.
Here’s something to give up for Lent and beyond: unhealthy dissatisfaction, a sense that nothing is ever enough. The godly antidote for this malaise is thankfulness: for “godliness with contentment is great gain”.
In this Lenten season of God’s love, let us be thankful for the unique individuals God has created each of us to be, for all the things He has provided for us for life and godliness (see 2 Peter 1:3-4) and for the unique circumstances He has placed each of us in individually and corporately to serve Him and His purposes.
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Thank you so much for talking about this. God has really been working on me in this area. I like the way you brought up the physical appearance as well. We tend to think in terms of just things when we feel we need to be more contented but we need to not buy into the constant call to make ourselves into the image of what the world says we should be. Especially as a female, I’ve had to ward this kind of thinking off since I was a child and reading books, playing with my dolls and watching TV. I see this so much as a teacher as well.