“I’LL BE CONTENT IF I CAN JUST GET…”
If you’re experiencing wavering feelings of unhappiness, dissatisfaction, and discontentment, note that you’re not alone. God wants to set us free with this information. We live in a world that is constantly advancing to the new or next thing and naturally as humans, we can find ourselves saying “If I can just get to this next season of my life, then I’ll be happy. Or if I can get the degree, more money, or a new car, house, kids, and even a husband then I’ll be happy”. “ If I can just get there, then I’ll be satisfied”. It’s the belief system that until we obtain a particular thing, only then we will find ourselves content. However, this thought processing is false.
Jesus Christ is the only person that is able to fill the voids that we experience. There is nothing and no person in this world that would be able to fulfill us. If we can truly understand this mindset only then we’ll be able to truly be content and satisfied. In Ecclesiastes, we learn about why contentment is important. 6:9 says “It is better to be content with what eyes can see than for one’s heart always to crave more. This continual longing is futile-like chasing the wind.
Futile - unsuccessful, unfruitful, useless. The definition of futile alone directly goes against who we are called to be in Christ. What does it profit us chasing the wind? Truly ponder that. A life constantly seeking the next thing leaves us to be unsuccessful, unfruitful, and useless. Let’s go deeper.
In part {John 15:5 says “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing”}. Apart from God, we can’t do anything so this truth tells us that apart from God we are not able to do anything. When we seek the things and people to fulfill us in action were saying to God that we don’t need him because the particular thing is going to make us feel better. Not realizing that it’s like chasing the wind, it’s leading to destruction because the things in this world are always fleeting.
If we can understand that God is the only dependable person in this world and he’s going to be the only dependable thing that keeps us afloat when all else fails, then we learn the true secret to life. I want to inform you that people and things in this world are going to fail us. We live in a fallen world where the flesh and the spirit man are always raging war against one another {Galatian 5:17} and it’s not enough security to put our faith, trust, and hope into the things and people that are imperfect. We have to trust in God’s character he is consistent and never changing {Hebrews13:8} he is the very person that brings healing, wholeness, and satisfaction. Apart from him, we are dead because HE is the vine that produces life in us. He is the vine that gives us the fruit we need.
The apostle Paul spoke a word about learning the secret to life. {Philippians 4:12-13} says, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” This scripture screams our discontentment, It’s telling us how we are to operate and exist when we find ourselves in want of the things and people we feel like we need in order to make us happy, contented, and satisfied.
Allow this truth to set you free. There’s nothing in this world that’s going to complete us so we have to stop looking in the wrong places and submit ourselves to Christ and his rulership knowing that we can be fulfilled, content, and satisfied in him.
- What am I trying to escape?
- Once I obtain these particular things am I truly at rest?
- How can God fill my voids?
- What does happiness truly mean?
- How can I acquire a joyful state of being and rest in contentment?