Discontentment & the Source of True Contentment

I have a friend whom I thought was happy with his lot in life. It came as a surprise to me to learn that he was not very happy. Well, it shouldn't have been a surprise given a lack of real relationship with Jesus Christ in his life. That's not to say he is not religious. He is very religious.

Many of the reasons he gave me for his sudden change in job and plans to move to another city sound good on the surface, but when one really contemplates them, they ring hollow. This is a man who on the outside appears poised, pleasant and happy, but who on the inside is full of turmoil and discontentment. I just never realized it until the day he told me he was moving and why.

It is truly sad. His church teaches a works salvation. You must always be working to perfect yourself to be accepted by the church leaders and God. Contentment in God Himself and what He has provided in Christ Jesus is absent. Even the sacrifice of Christ on the cross to secure our salvation is looked at as not enough. They must work themselves up the ladder and hope that when they can't get any higher Jesus will reach down and pull them up the rest of the way. There is no real peace or contentment in knowing one's sins are forgiven, under the blood of Jesus Christ and one has been made righteous before God through Jesus' work in one's behalf. It's religion---man working his way to God, instead of a relationship with God. Jesus is God with us. God came down to bring us up to Him.

This kind of religion naturally causes one to look for contentment in other places besides God Himself. No one can be good enough to work their way up to God. Even if one has the belief that when they get to the last rung of the ladder and can't get further, Jesus will reach down and pull them up the rest of the way, there is little comfort in that, for how are they to know when they have done enough? What if they die and find that they came up short and Jesus won't reach down and pull them up the rest of the way because they didn't do enough good works to get high enough? And so, in an effort to block out those nagging questions in their minds, they make themselves super busy so there is not time to think and they look to things, people, places, recreation, entertainment and church activities to make them content. It's a hollow existence.

When one tries to find contentment in their children, spouses, extended family, religion, church, their home, job, schools or community, they will always end up disappointed and discontented. Children may make bad choices in friends and don't get good grades. Spouses may not do what we expect of them. Extended family may put expectations on us we don't want. Parents change as they get older and that makes us sad. Religion puts expectations on us that God never intended us to have. The church may not offer enough activities for the kids to keep them away from bad friends or it may keep us so busy we can't keep up. There may be people issues in the church. Our homes require work to keep them up & maybe we aren't happy with the amount of work it takes. Maybe it's too much house/property for our liking or maybe it's not enough. In a down economy, maybe there's not enough work to keep us busy and the budget is tight. Perhaps we don't care for the school district and think they are not doing right by our children.

There is nothing inherantly wrong with trying better ourselves, but when we try to find our contentment in anything but Jesus Christ, it won't work. All of these things are subject to change. When circumstances or people change in a way we don't like, then we become discontented. That is why we must find our contentment in God alone. He does not change. That's not to say He will always act in accordance to what we want or think best. Sometimes He does quite the opposite, but our contentment is in knowing that whatever He does in our lives is done in wisdom with our spiritual good in mind. In this we can be content.

My heart cries for my friend and his family, that God might save them out of that religious trap so that they can find true contentment that is only found in God and what He has provided in Jesus Christ.