Faith April 6, 2020 By
Our world somewhat turned upside down at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and many of us turned to various ways of coping with a “new” type of normal during this uncharted season of life. The constant going, shopping, doing, spending, wanting, endless ways of occupying our lives, and on and on…all of these “normal life” things came to a stop. So how do we find ourselves feeling (and dealing) with this new season of life?
Collectively as human beings, we all live in a state of discontentment in some way or another. We don’t like our jobs, our weight, our looks, our spouse and definitely not our in-laws, or our President, or even our kids. Our car doesn’t have all of the latest and greatest bells and whistles, the computer isn’t fast enough, our cell phones lack the best features, our house is too big or too small, and the list goes on and on. There is always something that keeps us in a mindset of restless discontent.
Trying to fill that void or restless discontentment in our lives is what many of us do. Sadly, we try to fill that emptiness with the “next great thing” or continual activities neither of which brings satisfaction or contentment. We attempt to fill this emptiness by striving to have more money to buy more things, or relationships, or getting ahead in our career, or an endless list of other ways, but in the end, we may feel even more downhearted and hopeless.
When we were forced to stay at home and we were around our family more than normal, you might have experienced a lack of contentment. Even though many of the things that we try to fill that hole in our lives with aren’t bad things, the desire and struggle for these things to be our life goal does not bring fulfillment.
It all comes down to CONTENTMENT which is possible only when we realize there will always be “the next great thing” in a society that relentlessly motivates us to think we have to have “it” - whatever the “it” thing might be that moment. Contentment is something we all yearn for in our lives even if we don’t actually realize we lack it.
The good news is that we were made for more! The only place we will ever find true peace, contentment, and joy is in knowing and believing in Jesus Christ– not in people, places, or things. When we know that our contentment comes from resting on God’s promises in every circumstance and situation no matter the outcome, only then will we find what we were made for.
The Bible says in John 14:6 (NKJV), “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” Bottom line - true contentment is our choice by believing in Jesus Christ as God’s only Son who came to bring us forgiveness of our sins and eternal life with Him.
Even though the Apostle Paul wrote two thousand years ago what he learned about true contentment, it still speaks powerfully to us today no matter the circumstance or season in life. In Philippians 4:11(b)-13 (NIV) Paul writes “…for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”
Now that is true contentment - for each of us to know and experience whether quarantined or not, but more importantly, for all eternity.
