When Its Alright to Be Discontent “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” (I Timothy 6:6) This verse is perhaps the single most concise statement of a doctrine that appears woven throughout the Scriptures, both Old and New Testament. This is the teaching that believers ought to be content, that we ought to accept the Lord’s provision, His decisions about how, when, and what we are to do, and so forth. In the Old Testament, Israel was frequently dealt with by God because they were discontent – the didn’t have water, or tasty food, or whatever else when they wanted it, so they would chide with Moses and criticise God and His man. In the Psalms, we are told that we ought to, “Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.” (Psalm 37:7) In the New Testament, we see many statements commanding us to wait patiently in the Lord and encouraging us to continue in His will, rather than our own, “But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” (James 1:4) “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.” (James 5:7) “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” (Revelation 14:12) “That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Hebrews 6:12) “Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer.” (Romans 12:12) And so forth. In times of tribulation, we are to wait on the Lord. When we’re being tested, when we have to wait for answers to our prayers, when we don’t see what we’d like to see happen right away, when we don’t have what we think we need – we are to be patient and content in where the Lord has us at present. This is all predicated upon the sovereignty of God – not the weird Calvinistic version of it, but upon the scriptural understanding of it in which God rules over everything, even as He sovereignly allows man to have free will to choose whether he will wait upon the Lord patiently or not. And indeed, as I Timothy 6:6 says, if we want to lead godly lives, we will be content in the Lord. In that verse, we see an intimate connexion between godliness and contentment. If you aren’t content in the Lord, then you’re not living and doing as God wants you to be. But I believe there are times when we should not be content with where we are at – and those are the times when we are not joining the “godliness” part to the “contentment” part. Put another way, there are times when we can be content in ungodliness. When we allow some sin into our lives, and begin to get comfortable with it – content, so to speak – then that is contentment without godliness. When we have backslidden in some way, maybe its slacking off on our prayer life, or Bible reading, or church attendance, our zeal for souls, and we start to get into the rut of ungodly contentment – that is when we should shake off that contentedness and start feeling very discontent with ourselves. Simply put, our contentment should never exist without godliness joined to it. In such a case, I believe the Lord will work in the hearts of His children – those who are truly born again – to give them a sense of discontent with the way they are conducting themselves, a sense that what they’re doing is not right and that they ought not to continue in being satisfied with the level of spirituality (or lack thereof) that they are at. In many cases, God may even need to shake us up in our lives through chastening to wake us up to a season of discontent that should drive us to repentance and back to Him, “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” (Hebrews 12:5-8) Do not fall into the complacency trap, of being content with where you are when where you are is outside of God’s will and way. It’s good to be content – when that contentment is coupled with godliness. Outside of that, however, it is a trap that will destroy your testimony and your ability to serve the Lord!
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 19:42:30 +0000
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