How to Find True Contentment

It does seem to be a universal truth that we want what we haven’t got. But the tenth commandment says don’t do it, and it’s not hard to see why. ‘You shall not covet’ . . . your neighbour’s house, wife, servant, ox, donkey – anything, in fact, that belongs to your neighbour.

Coveting is about wrong desires, and the effects they have on our actions are clear to see. Nobody has been imprisoned for the crime of ‘coveting’ itself, but the domino effect is dangerous – look at King David in the Bible. Coveting his army chief’s wife led to adultery, lies, abuse of his position and, finally, murder. Breaking the tenth commandment led to him breaking the sixth, seventh and ninth as well.

We all have desires that are God-given. I believe that the desires to be loved, to feel worthwhile, to belong, to feel secure and to be happy are from God. The problem with covetousness is that so often it points us to the wrong answer. We try to find fulfilment for those legitimate desires in money, things, and even fame, instead of turning to our creator God, the one who understands our needs, and made and knows our hearts.

An anonymous poet wrote about the limitations of material wealth:

Money can buy medicine, but it cannot buy health.
Money can buy a house, but not a home.
Money can buy companionship, but not friendship.
Money can buy entertainment, but not happiness.
Money can buy food, but not an appetite.
Money can buy a bed, but not sleep.
Money can buy a crucifix, but not a saviour.

In today’s world, we fear and worry about all sorts of things. One of the big ones is that we don’t have enough money or will lose what we do have. We believe the lie that it gives us security and makes us immune to life’s problems.

Covetousness, wanting what we don’t have, makes us live as if our survival depended on our own efforts. Taking our lives into our own hands means we’ve taken them out of God’s, and I believe the only lasting security is to be found in him.

Jesus encourages us, time and time again, to trust in God: ‘Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear,’ he said. ‘Is not life more important than food, and the body more than clothes?’ (Matthew 6:25 NIV). Things provide an illusion of security, not the reality.

More than 370 times in the Bible God says we needn’t fear. Not because bad things don’t happen, but because we can trust him with our lives.

God tells us time and time again to trust in him, to let him work on our hearts, to mould them into wanting what is good and true, spiritually and emotionally, and that we’ll find lasting – eternal – fulfilment in that, and in him.