Learn to be content with who God made you to be and what God has called you to do. You are meant to be unique. When you compare yourself to others your measure of success is dependent on how far the other goes, how hard the other works and their standard of life. When you compare yourself to Christ and His standard, Jesus becomes your measure of success. And his measurements are this: being forgiving when others are being holding grudges, being humble when others are pumping their chests, being kind when surrounded by selfishness, being honoring when surrounded by selfish ambition, being committed when others are giving up, etc.
You’ll never be happy when you are comparing your lives to people and things because they’re temporary. Christ is eternal. Contentment is Christ because when you encounter Christ you forfeit the world to gain what your soul which is what you are truly longing for. Another way of looking at it is “discovering your discontentment” with what you have and not what you don’t have. That’s why you lose your soul when you gain the world. The things never cease their beckoning. They will hold you till the end. They are always whispering you need to have more. They are screaming that what you have is not enough. Contentment silences the screams of society that compel you to want more and need more.
If the desire for more is the saboteur of enjoying contentment then the desire for Jesus is your ally in staying in contentment. Love Christ more and you love things less. Love God more and you love money less. Love Jesus more and you love fame less. The paradox is the more you love Jesus the less important things become and the more important people become. Now your friends matter; now your family becomes significant; now your church becomes a community that you can’t live without.
Being fulfilled is a powerful emotion. It’s being filled to the full. You will find a full life when you encounter Christ. Jesus said it best,
“…I have come that you may have life, life to the full.” John 10:10.
At the end of the day, your circumstances will not make you happy. No matter how much money you have, the house you own, the friends you surround yourself with, and the title you have at work because nothing can satisfy like Christ can. That’s why Paul made sure he mentioned this in the Bible,
“11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ,[a] who gives me strength.”
Philippians 4:11-13
Godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6). Contentment without godliness means you’re experiencing something but not gaining anything. Godliness puts your motives to your contentment. It’s having the peace of mind with the Prince of Peace. It’s a peace that affirms it’s not about looking around at what you wish you had but It’s found by what you don’t. It’s about subtraction not addition. Contentment will never come by adding to what I have but from subtracting from what I want. What I’m saying is I won’t find contentment when I keep adding to what I have until my contentment rises to meet my level of desire but I will find contentment when my desires are lowered to my level of contentment.
Ambition is celebrated and rewarded in our culture. Being ambitious to find your purpose isn’t wrong but striving to obtain possessions and power is. Because when you strive you miss out on enjoying what you have and where you are at and who you’re with.