Defying the Dissatisfied Spirit
Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
— Philippians 4:11-13
A certain pilot was known to always look down at a little river in the Appalachian mountains as he flew his passenger plane overhead day in and day out. One day, curiosity got the best of his co-pilot, and he asked, “Why do you always look down to that river when we pass over it?” The pilot replied, “When I was a boy, I’d sit on a log on the banks of that river fishing and every time I saw a plane fly above me, I’d wish I were flying. Now that I’m flying, I look down and wish I were fishing.”
We are in the season of gratitude, Thanksgiving. Really, every day ought to be Thanksgiving because we are so marvelously blessed, but it is proper to take a special moment in this season to make our thanks known through festivity and time with our loved ones. It is also a time to reflect on one of life’s most dangerous afflictions: discontentment.
A discontented, unsatisfied, unhappy spirit is neither thankful or stable. Like a black hole, the dissatisfied heart sucks in everything around it but is never filled. Gratitude goes away and grumbling takes its place.
It is always tempting to think that if we could just get “one more” of whatever our greedy hearts desire, that we will finally be at peace. That’s a deceitful way of thinking—it will never be enough. Get a new phone, a newer model comes out. Buy a new house, the neighbors build a nicer one across the street. It doesn’t end. The world is designed to be continually updating its ways to entice us to buy more, hoard more, want more. Then, when everything doesn’t go their way, their complain as if they are entitled to any better.
“As a rule, men are fools,
When it’s hot they want it cool.
And when it’s cool, they want it hot.
Always wanting what is not.”
How shall we be content? We need to realize that it is a learning experience. Paul said, “I have learned to be content.” It doesn’t just happen. Contentment isn’t ignorance or isolation. It’s not a monastic existence. It’s active, abundant, faithful living with our eyes on Jesus.
Remember Hebrews 13:5. “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you’”.
What does contentment mean? It means that regardless of your circumstances or present situation, if Jesus is with you, life is good. That is something to be always thankful for!
SDG!
Happy Thanksgiving!