The idea of contentment presupposes God is enough. We are designed to be content in God and as we pursue our purpose which is to know God, we find contentment. Yet the nature of the fall disrupted the creative design of God in our humanity. In our broken world, contentment has been replaced with an insatiable desire for more. Not only does this impact our capacity to be content, but it also undermines our purpose.
The consumer culture of today that promises contentment and fulfilment is a false economy. It is never static and as such can never deliver what it promises. Consumerism demands we pursue more and more and drives us to lay hold of everything at our disposal to ensure we are fulfilled. We want that “one more thing”. No quicker do we lay our hands on one thing, we are quickly found with desire for whatever the next “one more thing” may be. The pursuit of the “one more thing” has no shelf life in a world that does not have God at the centre. It is endless and it is ultimately unfulfilling.
The desire for “one more thing” is shaped in us from birth because we are born with a bias towards sin. Then it grows and grows in response to the driving consumer culture we live in. As I listen to my grandchildren play, the moment they are required to finish a game the cry on their lips is “just one more”; one more minute, one more lolly, one more tv show and the list goes on. Whilst this may be a child’s response, it has been further embedded by clever marketing campaigns that sit afront of a worldview that drives the need for more. Contentment is overthrown by the desire for “one more thing”.
In a redeemed world, contentment looks differently. When God restores us to our original creative purpose, contentment is a by-product. It is not devoid of desires but the insatiable need to find fulfilment outside of God is replaced by the willingness to delight in God in all situations and to pursue His purposes. God calls us to delight in Him and as our desires are aligned with Him, He will fulfill us. Proverbs 37:4. We are wired to know God, and, in that space, there is contentment. But it no longer comes naturally to us because there has been a short circuit in our wiring that looks inward to find fulfilment or to things and experiences that will satisfy us. Blaise Pascal once said, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made know through Jesus Christ.” [1]
Following the example of Jesus will give us insight into a life of true contentment. Jesus lived His life honouring the Father and doing the Father’s will. He was “Father-centred”. (Davies, 2019)[2]. Think of Jesus who was content in the perfection of the Trinitarian relationship. Jesus was also co-creator of all things with the Father. Hebrews 1:2. Sitting on His kingly throne with the Father, the earth was His footstool (Isaiah 66:1) and together they stretched out the heavens and called for the stary hosts (Isaiah 40:22, 26). Jesus was already in perfect contentment.
Yet Jesus turned and emptied Himself of all that was rightfully His, entered the realm of humanity and suffered unimaginably on their behalf and did so knowing what was coming. Jesus lived in perfect obedience to the Father and was content to do the will of God. He was Father-centric.
Imagine for a moment if Jesus began to compare His existence as God before He came to earth to His life, living in a human body. Perhaps He would have been filled with such discontent, He could have shifted gears and pursued His own desires and needs. In the contained space of being human, encountering abuse from others, in the garden, in His journey to the cross and in that violent, horrendous death on the cross, Jesus could have called on the Father and the Father would have given Him twelve legions of angels to remove Him from this horror. Matthew 26:53. What if He followed a life of discontentment? What if the “one more thing” for Jesus was to escape His predicament? The implications for humanity would have been catastrophic. There would be no new covenant of grace.
Jesus lived in contentment with the Father and pursued His Father’s purposes because His Father was enough for Him. He kept His life Father-centred. Jesus invites us into this relationship of contentment and to be restored to our original creative purpose – to know the Father and do His will. We don’t need the “one more thing”. The Father is enough. The “one more thing” will keep us imprisoned in a cell self-pursuit and ultimately dissatisfaction.
Friends, what a gracious Father we have. What a hope we have, knowing that Jesus is our “one more thing” and in that place we will find contentment.
Blessings
Tina
[1] Blaise Pascal Quotes – Goodreads
[2] Davies, A. (2019), The Power of Christian Contentment, BakerBooks.