Content? Yes; Satisfied? No (May 28, 2023)

Content? Yes; Satisfied? No (May 28, 2023)

There was an interesting discussion at the end of a recent sports season whether or not it was a failure for a particular team because they did not win the championship. Remember that there are dozens of teams competing in any given sport, and that only one will be the champion. So for all the losers, discontent and dissatisfaction reign, right? Well, no, and yes.

The Bible clearly teaches contentment. God gives blessings: to some, many; to others, few. But in the light of those blessings, we are to be content, whether many or few. Paul says: “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.”

Contentment seems to mean being at peace with where we are at the moment. It is accepting the lot that God has apportioned at this point in time. Are you in a hospital or some other place you don’t want to be? Can you be content there? If you trust the Lord, you can. It doesn’t mean that we want to stay there, but it is accepting your lot in the moment, even as you pray and work for a different future. 

Part of this contentment is understanding the God shapes our lives, and He intends each and every situation to be a learning and leaning experience for us: to learn Christlikeness and to lean on our heavenly Father. We are content as we learn and lean because we know that God intends it to be good for us.

But satisfaction has more to do with a vision of the future, informed by the promises of God. It has to do with opportunities for service and witness, for investment in eternal things and growth in grace, slow and unseen though it may be, whether in ourselves or in those we disciple. There is a sense in which we will never be satisfied, though content, until Jesus comes again and all things are set right. Paul speaks to this as well, when he says, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” He is not satisfied now with what he has accomplished in the past, even though he communes with God in the moment with wonderful contentment. God continues to give opportunities of all kinds, and we dare not waste them.

The psalmist got it right about contentment in the last verse of Psalm 16: “You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” The psalmist also got it right about satisfaction in the last verse of Psalm 17: “As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake.”