Enough

Here’s what I see. If you’re single, you want to be married. If you’re married, you want to be single. If you’re dating this guy here, you wish you were dating that guy there. If your kids are young, you want them to grow up. If they are old, you want them to be toddlers again. If you’re poor, you want to win the big one. If you’re rich, you miss the days where you lived in a small apartment and ate ramen noodles. If you’re not very pretty, you want to be hot. If you’re hot, you resent the fact that guys only like you for your looks, and you wonder what it’s like to be less hot. If you live in the cold, you want to move south. If you live in the South, you wish you had beautiful fall foliage like we do. If you’re young, you want to be old. If you’re old, you yearn to be young. If you’ve failed, you wish you were a success. If you’re successful, you want to be more so. If you serve in this ministry here, you want to be in that ministry there.

Never quite fully satisfied. Never completely happy. Never resting in content with what God has given you right here right now.

Here’s a great definition for contentment from my Pastor James Macdonald: contentment is satisfaction with God’s sufficient provision. It is a settled sense of adequacy.

Do you struggle to keep it? Do you struggle to find satisfaction in the very thing God has put before you today? Do you find yourself satisfied with the job God has given you in the place God has placed you with the people God has plopped in your life and the material things God has provided for you right here and right now?

It’s not hard to deviate from a heart of contentment. Just turn the TV on. There’s always a better life somewhere. There’s always a better husband or wife in someone else’s home.

Don’t watch TV? Just get online. She’s more successful than you. She has more friends than you. She is more popular, more in demand, more well spoken, more well rounded, more, well, more anything!

In I Timothy 6:6-10, Paul teaches this: “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” According to Paul, the point isn’t just to be content. It’s to be content along with being godly. The two go hand in hand. My Pastor says it this way: “we must never be content with who we are, only with what we have.”

Paul repeats his admonition to be content 3 other times:

1. I Timothy 6:8 – But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.

2. Hebrews 13:5 – Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

3. Philippians 4:11 – Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

I put the Philippians verse last because it’s my favorite. Contentment is learned. God allows each circumstance in your life to teach you the attitude of contentment.

Here’s a good place to begin. Start by saying it: I have enough.

I know what you’re thinking. Lina’s a doctor. Of course she has enough. You listen to me. Contentment is not a concept for the poor. It’s an attitude of the heart. That’s why Paul addresses his words in Timothy and Hebrews to the rich. You ask the richest man in the world what he needs to be happy, and he’ll say – just a million more. It’s never enough, and you’ll never be satisfied when you’re living in the wilderness of covetousness.

Not me. I’m seeking contentment. I’m choosing Godliness.

I have enough.

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