Contentment Does Not Come Naturally

The world, the flesh, and the Devil have a Great Commission of their own—to stir up discontentment in our hearts and lure us away from the gospel. So we fight back in the power of the Holy Spirit, because contentment does not come naturally apart from Jesus.

Watch or listen as Nancy Guthrie, Jen Wilkin, and Melissa Kruger note that throughout Scripture we encounter the image of a fruit-bearing tree planted by a life-giving stream. The author of The Envy of Eve: Finding Contentment in a Covetous World (Christian Focus) believes this is a vivid metaphor for a heart that’s content in Jesus no matter what the “weather” (circumstances) of life.

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“It’s interesting that Paul says he learned to be content,” Guthrie adds, referencing Philippians 4:11–13. It won’t come easily or naturally, in other words. Contentment must be pursued, studied, learned.

“As you become a student of contentment you have to become a student of your own desires,” Wilkin observes. “We want to buy into the lie that it doesn’t hurt to look. But the oldest story of sin in the Bible begins with seeing, and then wanting, and then taking. I think we underestimate the importance of limiting desire-enhancing sources.”

Most of all, Kruger says, “Present contentment is rooted in a past reality and a future hope. It’s hard not to trust a bleeding Savior who will take me home.”