Discontentment or Gratitude: Where's Your Focus?
- Rebecca Monks
- Nov 7, 2018
- 3 min read
Discontentment is a dangerous state of being that breeds jealousy, envy, greed, conflict, and, at its worst, sin. It affects not only the person who is discontented, but also his or her spouse, family, friends, job performance, and relationship with God. People who are discontented tend to see life as unfair, an unproductive perspective that leads to a dead end of wallowing in their problems rather than putting forth the effort to fix them.
Discontentment is more than just a bad mood; it is a serious problem. Hebrews 13:5b instructs, “Be ye content with such things as ye have; for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” So, our contentment is, or should be, tied to God being present in our lives.
Here's what you should know about discontentment.
A. It focuses on what we do NOT have.
B. It produces despair and desperation, creating the perfect breeding ground for bad decisions, poor choices, and even sin.
C. It takes our focus away from God, His blessings, and His ability to develop us according to His will.
D. It causes us to be unhappy with the will of God for our lives.
E. Ultimately, it stops our spiritual growth.
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul instructs us to "do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life" (Phil. 2:14-16a). The world needs you to be a light, reflecting the love, hope, joy, and peace of God, not a grumpy, unhappy so-called Christian.
So, how do we counteract discontentment? With gratitude. Gratitude is being thankful, being appreciative. With Thanksgiving coming up, we’re in a season of thankfulness. I’m sure you’ve seen the posts of people sharing on social media what they are grateful for each day. That’s good, but it shouldn’t occur just one month out of the year. Gratitude should be a daily practice, a mindset.
Research shows that one of the main components of happiness is gratitude. You may have heard or read the suggestion to keep a gratitude journal: each night, take five minutes to jot down five things you are thankful for. Why? Because gratitude causes us to focus on our blessings. It emphasizes the positive rather than the negative. It turns our attention to what is present in our lives rather than what is absent. It helps us be content with God’s will for our lives, and it promotes spiritual growth. Gratitude is in direct opposition with discontentment.
In other words, you’re training your brain to focus on what’s good about your life rather than dwelling on and being weighed down by the negatives. This takes discipline. I know. It might be a stretch to even think of three things you’re grateful for at the end of the day. I’m not denying the challenging reality of the situations we deal with; I’m talking about our mindset in the face of those hard circumstances.
I don’t know anyone who mindlessly floats around in a cloud of contentment all day, every day. We need God and a commitment to our own well-being to live a life of contentment and gratitude. Christ is at the core of true contentment, and when He is at the center of our lives and we are walking in His will, we can be content even through trials and hardships.
There I was, happily reading a blog post, when all of a sudden I realized it was describing ME. #blogpostasmirror
Preach on, sis.