It’s a beautiful morning and I find myself toting a coffee cup in one hand and in the other hand, my Bible, Journal, and a favorite magazine. Where am I headed? The back porch of course! I can feel the calmness settle through me and as I get settled, I feel ever so content! I read my Bible and begin to contemplate what I just read and what I need to pray about. Which leads me to this question that I have been pondering for a few weeks now. Is contentment in every situation a good thing? Or can we confuse contentment with complacency?
Webster’s dictionary defines contentment as “the state of being satisfied.” The Oxford Dictionary defines contentment as “the act of satisfying; the process of being satisfied; satisfaction.”
I don’t know about you, but I have always thought that contentment in life really shows that we are dependent on God and I can find many scripture references supporting the need for contentment…
· Philippians
4:11, Paul says “…for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances
I am.”
· I Timothy 6, “But godliness actually is a
means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.”
· Nehemiah
8:10, “the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
· Psalm
23:1, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”
But I really wonder if sometimes we confuse contentment with complacency. We are so focused on our own contentment in the Lord that we become complacent in our everyday lives. I found some scripture in the Old Testament that I believe supports this:
· Isaiah 32:9, “Rise up, you women who are at ease, And hear my voice; Listen to my word, You complacent daughters. (This was a warning to the women of Jerusalem.)
· Amos 6:1, “Woe to those who are carefree in Zion…”
· Ezekiel 16:45, “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, plenty of food, and carefree ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.”
Webster’s dictionary defines complacent as “self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction.” Perhaps there is a fine line between being content, trusting in God to take care of us in every facet of our lives, believing He will do it or being so complacent in our own self-satisfaction that we sort of go about our day forgetting to even acknowledge that God is providing for us each moment of each day.
Does our prayer life reflect contentment or complacency? In a sense can contentment lead to self-satisfaction which then leads to complacency? Should we not in our contentment still be motivated to cry out to the Lord for things that are most important to us? We are reminded in Luke 18, Jesus told a parable about a widow who continued to “bother” a judge to give her justice against her opponent. The judge finally gave in because he was tired of her bothering him. This woman was no doubt filled with passion for this ruling. I suppose she could have sat back and waited for him to eventually rule, but who knows how long that could have taken and what his ruling might have been?
So, is it possible to be content in the Lord, but still have major things we ought to be praying about? Should we be busy doing the work of the Lord or sitting back and letting it be done by someone else or not at all?
Is it possible that the Joy of the Lord which Nehemiah talks about gives us the strength to do the work of the Lord and yet still be content in Him?
I believe that it is! I believe we can be so content that we are complacent, and we don’t even know it. We love the Lord and know that He loves us. We have a relationship with Him and know as believers we have eternal life to look forward to. But are we really reaching our potential in our prayer life? Are we passionate in our requests to the Lord or do we simply say a prayer and check it off our list?
I hope you will ponder these questions, as I am. I believe God wants us to be passionate in our requests to Him and in our service to Him. After all, if we are to do everything to His glory, it must be with passion, and we cannot be complacent.
--Pam Dratnol
No comments:
Post a Comment