The Secret of Contentment
A mother and her young son were out one day for a walk when the weather suddenly turned dangerous. A tornado funnel formed overhead and came right towards them. Seeing this, they took shelter at the base of a tree and clung to its trunk. But although the mother was able to keep her grip, her son was torn away, and the spiraling wind carried him off into the sky and out of sight.
The boy’s mother was beside herself, and prayed, “Oh, please, God, bring my son back to me. He’s my whole life. If you’ll return him to me I promise I’ll serve you all my days.”
In answer to her prayers, the tornado turned back towards her and lost its force, gently returning him back to the ground at her side--a bit disheveled, but otherwise unhurt. His mother was overjoyed, and after hugging and kissing him repeatedly, she brushed him off and stood back to take a good look at him. Then she stopped, looked up, and said, “He had a hat, Lord.”
Most of us are like that mother, hard to please. We tend to focus more on what we don’t have, than appreciating all that God has already done for us.
This is a continuation of a series on the Seven Deadly Sins. Today, in reflecting on the sin of envy, we’ll especially highlight the contrasting virtue of contentment. The choice is ours to make, whether to allow envy to steal our joy and peace, or to live in a spirit of contentment.
In the cartoon version of this dilemma, we would have a little demon on one shoulder whispering in our ear something like, “Look at everything that person has that you don’t. It makes you feel resentful and cheated, doesn’t it?” Meanwhile, on the other shoulder, an angel is reassuring us, “God knows exactly what you need and what’s best for you. Learn to appreciate and enjoy his faithful blessings.” Those are our two opposing responses when we see someone or something we envy. And it matters greatly which voice we listen to.
I probably wouldn’t have thought to include “envy” in a short list of the deadliest of our sins, although I realize now that it rightfully belongs there. It’s a very subtle sin and one we don’t talk about very much, but it can have a severely detrimental effect on our spiritual well-being.
Envy is focusing on another person’s blessings rather than our own. Most of us fall into that temptation very easily, even subconsciously. And because we keep those thoughts to ourselves, they can and will quietly undermine our joy. That’s why it’s so important for us to expose this hidden sin to the light of God’s truth.
After his resurrection, Jesus visited several of his disciples by the Sea of Galilee. He and Peter took a walk together that morning, when Jesus told him that the time would come when Peter would be bound and martyred. After hearing this, Peter turned and saw the Apostle John following them, and asked, “Lord, what about him?” But Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You follow me.” He was saying that each of us is responsible for being faithful in our own spiritual journey. That should be enough for us to concern ourselves with.
In the Judgment, God won’t ask us, “Why weren’t you more like Mother Teresa or Billy Graham?” They were uniquely created in his image, and had their own individual paths to walk. Our only measure of success is to become the best version of ourselves as we follow Jesus. And there’s freedom and joy in that conviction.
Envy isn’t only a personal problem, however; it can also exist in the life of groups, including churches. It can be hard to see some churches thriving, while other equally faithful congregations are doing their best just to maintain what they have. And Satan will use envy to discourage and dishearten Christians whenever possible, if we let him.
Envy thrives in the soil of comparisons, when someone else’s success feels like our failure. Its poisonous effect is also alive and well in the realm of social media, where studies show that the pressure of cultivating the right image online is causing an epidemic of low self-esteem, anxiety and depression. It’s a timely sin for us to understand.
In fact, the problem of envy stalks us at every turn in modern society in general, where we’re inundated daily by skillfully crafted images that bear little relation to the reality behind them. Advertising professionals know how to manipulate our emotional triggers to their advantage, but that perfect shot of a model probably took several hours, if not days, to capture, even before any airbrushing. We need to guard our hearts by understanding that images and reality can be two very different things.
In contrast to the spiritual cancer of envy, contentment is having a healthy heart that is at peace with God’s will for us, whatever that might be. In the words of Romans 8:28, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.” God works everything together for our good. Everything.
A friend of mine has a favorite expression that says a lot in just a few words: “It’s all good.” Jack’s life has been more challenging than many: raising four young sons by himself while also pastoring an active church. There’s never a dull moment. But he has a very strong faith, and when he says “It’s all good,” he really means it. And because of that solid trust, God gives him the grace he needs to keep his joy and peace.
As Paul wrote to the Philippian church, “I have learned to be content, whatever the circumstances. 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.” And then he revealed the secret of his contentment: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (4:11-13). By trusting wholeheartedly that his life was in God’s good hands, his confidence became the source of an abiding peace and joy, regardless of the situation.
This is all the more remarkable since Paul’s life was so fraught with hardship. He wrote this letter itself while he was “in chains for Christ” (1:13), one of three known imprisonments, in which he spent a total of five or six years during his ministry. (And providentially, the reason we have several of Paul’s letters today is because he had the time and inspiration to write them while in prison.) He also endured multiple floggings, beatings, shipwrecks, riots, pervasive dangers, frequent hunger, cold and sleepless nights, while always bearing a burden of responsibility for the fragile young churches he’d planted. In addition, he suffered from a “thorn in the flesh” that God chose not to heal, for reasons of teaching Paul greater dependence on his grace. As a result, even Paul’s weakness and hardships became a way for him to experience the reality of God’s faithful love and power (2 Cor. 12:7-10).
But let’s notice that Paul says that he “learned to be content.” It was a life lesson, one he learned through his experience of God’s faithfulness in his trials. Paul came to understand that God’s love in Christ is the most trustworthy reality of all. And his inspiring life is testimony to that great truth.
God is always at work for good, in every detail and at every moment. His love is so faithful, and so all-encompassing, that it’s difficult for us to believe in it and to trust in something so beyond our understanding.
Envy is a sin and a curse, one more form of unbelief that denies God’s goodness. Its answer is found in learning the secret of contentment: our complete dependence and trust in God’s amazing love.
What more proof of that love could we ever need or want than Jesus’ sacrificial death for our salvation? The greatest thing we can do for God is to embrace what he’s done for us on the cross. There’s life-changing (and world-changing) power in his love. Let’s believe in it and live in the joy and peace of God’s blessing.
Amen.
