Content With Discontent: Killing Comparison With GratitudeSample

As a recovering perfectionist, I have battled for contentment through much of my adult life. There have been seasons where I truly felt content. It was easy. Things were clicking. The kids were behaving. My house looked the way I wanted. My husband was being considerate. Friendships were thriving. And I felt fulfilled in what my day-to-day looked like. But there have been many, many seasons over the course of these past several decades where I truly felt discontent. And I was frustrated by it. I wrestled with it. Took it to Jesus. I didn’t want to feel that way.

Discontentment. It’s often the result of comparison to someone else’s life, work, appearance, or possessions. But it’s also a result of ingratitude—failure to recognize His faithful provision for our needs, and miscategorizing personal desires as needs He is obligated to provide. Truth be told, God owes us nothing. The breath in our lungs is His gift. Provision for our families is His blessing. The opportunity to build His Kingdom, serve in His victorious army, a privilege.

According to the verses we've been reading in Jude, God comes to execute judgment on the ungodly. And who are the ungodly? Grumblers and malcontents.

There are two definitions for 'malcontent':

1. a person who is always or often unhappy;
2. one who bears a grudge from a sense of grievance or thwarted ambition.

Here are a few examples:

• Others seem to have more going for them than you do—better gifts, better looks, better opportunities, and you are not happy with what God has given you.
• You are frustrated in your marriage or with your children. Other people seem to have compliant children, and you have one who is not easy. You are not happy about that.
• Your friend has a home that is larger than yours, vacations that are more exotic than yours, and it all comes from a salary that is bigger than yours. You look at that and you find yourself saying, “Why him? Why her? Why them… and not me?”
• Your life is not as you want it to be, your family is not as you want it to be, your work is not as you want it to be, and the church is not as you want it to be—you are not happy.

You have a sense of grievance about you, and if that gets hold of you, it will take you to a dark place.

Contentment is a learned trait, because it is counter-self. It is acknowledging: “I have all that I need”. Yes, you and I can, and must, learn how to be content.

Dig a Little Deeper:

1. Take a few moments today to acknowledge how God has supplied your needs. Go ahead, and name them. Then, give Him thanks for them!
2. Require yourself to look back over the past 30, 60, or 90 days and honestly admit when you've grumbled or complained against the Lord, or others, for things not going as you thought they should. Ask God for forgiveness, and if that includes someone else, reach out to him or her and apologize, as well.