Becoming a Contented Person

There is a saying that contentment makes one happy. This is why truly happy people are few because most of us are never really satisfied with what we have.

Contentment is in fact “green terror”. Because it also teaches us not to be excessive and wasteful, to humanity and the Earth, contentment is green and sustainable. However, to profiteers, contentment is terrifying.

Advertisers fear contentment in their audience and seek to prevent it. Consumer spending drives production and sales, and businesses rely on consumer spending to survive. This is the ultimate goal of advertising.

God wants all of us to learn contentment, but content people are a rare breed in this world. Imagine how beautiful life would be if we were all content! Yet how and at what price can we become content?

The apostle Paul identified that humans are attracted to even the smallest gains and endlessly seek greater ones. We ought to instead go after the true gain that is greater than any other and sustains forever. It is not shameful or deplorable to seek profit, but we need to know what the true and great gain is. Only those who can recognise such eternal profit can claim to be wise.

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” (1 Timothy 6:6-9)

Strictly speaking, contentment is not exactly a virtue. It is simply knowing how to find peace by not desiring more than our needs. In this sense, it is easier for ordinary folks to find contentment as they tend not to be highly ambitious or full of desires. It is a simple truth that can be easily understood and proven. “We” refers to complete persons and not just our physical bodies. We can’t remember how we were born but ask our parents and they would tell us we came with nothing, not even the most basic clothes or accessories, let alone jewelry and riches. How about when we die? Have you seen anybody who was able to actually bring their riches along into the afterlife? That is not to mention that even our bodies would be reduced to mere ashes after cremation. Ancient royalty and the elite class were often buried with much wealth and valuables, but when their tombs were discovered and reopened hundreds or even thousands of years today, all the burial goods would still be around, albeit tarnished by the passage of time, and none of it would have really been taken along into the afterlife with the dead! 

And where did these deceased go? The tomb owners should have known well enough when they ignored their conscience to pursue more and more riches, thinking themselves to be clever and wise, that they were walking with eyes wide open into a web of greed that ensnares them. Not only were they unable to bring their wealth into the next life, but even their souls were trapped together in the web of greed. Was the lure of such corrupting wealth truly worth eternal damnation in the fires of hell?

Contentment is indeed amazing – not having enough makes one unhappy, but when you share what little you have with others, you end up feeling happy and content instead! The irony of spiritual law is what you freely give away eventually gets returned to you manifold: “Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return. Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land. If clouds are full of water, they pour rain on the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie. Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.” (Ecclesiastes 11:1-4)

Another miracle of contentment is it makes one who seems to have little always have enough, and one who was seemingly weak much stronger than they appear.

Paul was persecuted and oppressed during his ministry, but these experiences taught him to depend on God. The Lord Almighty tells us: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

The lack of contentment in many people shows us that our planet, despite having bountiful resources, is in fact a poor and lacking place due to sin. We need to focus and listen to the voice from across space and time that tells us : “Be content!”

The only reliable path to contentment is to draw close to the Lord, for He is our omnipotent, omniscient, faithful, and dependable shepherd: “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters” (Psalm 23:1-2)

What a beautiful scene! To be able to relax our tensed nerves and rest on the green pastures, watching the soft, fluffy clouds flow pass and feeling like we were resting peacefully in them. This is the feeling of contentment that we all seek.

No one had ever found contentment by pursuing it. Only by following in the footsteps of the eternal shepherd who leads His flock of sheep can we find it. He will lead us into true peace and we need not look around blindly. How satisfying that is!