Contentment

“Why can we not be content with the secret happiness that God offers us without consulting the rest of the world? If we are fools enough to remain at the mercy of the people who want to sell us happiness, it will be impossible for us ever to be content with anything. How would they profit if we became content?...That last thing a salesman wants is for the buyer to become content. You are no use in our affluent society unless you are always just about to grasp what you never have.” Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, quoted on page 80 of Daily Readings from Spiritual Classics, edited by Paul Ofstedal, Augsburg. Italics mine.

I’m reminded of Paul’s words to Timothy (1 Timothy 6:6-8, “But godliness is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.”

Then there is Hebrews 13:5, “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have…” (If you read both of these passages in your Bible note that the love of money is contrasted with contentment).

Affluent societies are vulnerable societies; vulnerable to economic downturns, vulnerable to moral depravity, vulnerable to political manipulation, vulnerable to economic blackmail, and vulnerable to the love of money. Affluent churches are likewise vulnerable, they can be especially vulnerable when it comes to preaching prophetically, for who will fund the church organization if people leave?

When people live beyond their means they are vulnerable, the same is true of a nation. When people essentially live paycheck to paycheck they are vulnerable. When people accumulate wealth they are also vulnerable, vulnerable to trusting in money and in missing the beauty of life, in failing to discover who God really is and who they really are - for money and possessions can become a fool’s self-image.  Why doesn’t the professing church love people enough to warn against the dangers of an affluent society so that Christians will seek to find the Cross in the midst of success, and lay their success at the foot of the Cross? In the Kingdom of God the janitor can be as highly esteemed as a business or political leader, or an entertainment or sports star.

Paul writes (1 Timothy 6:17 - 19), “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.”

James writes (James 1:9 - 10), “But the brother of humble circumstance is to glory in his high position; and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.”

Since the more we have the more we can lose, when we realize that we can take nothing we have with us when we die, and when we realize that things are just things, and when we learn to focus on the richness of God’s mercy and grace and the beauty of creation around us (what we haven’t destroyed yet), when we learn contentment - then we can know a peace that money cannot purchase, and with that peace we can know a freedom from the lust for more, and more, and for more beyond the “more” that we already have.

We really are like dumb animals, though I think I owe animals an apology for the comparison. We set traps for animals, we deceive them into falling for the trap. What is advertising if not a trap? For advertising does not give us facts about a product, instead is entices us to embrace a lifestyle, it tells us who we can be if we purchase the product. It entices us with images, images, and then more images - images without substance.

We are like mine workers of generations past who live in company towns with company stores - but we have been convinced that they are our towns and our stores, no matter that we borrow money to purchase the products, no matter that the life-span of the products is fleeting, no matter that the products are consumed and are no more, no matter that we are intoxicated by “more”; just as the patron of an opium den wants more drugs to return to his stupor, we want more money and credit to return to our insatiable ways. Oh, and no matter that we are destroying the earth that God provided us as we view life and value through economic and materialistic lenses. Is it any wonder our mental health system is at gridlock?

The one thing that our society does not want us to be, the one thing that our leaders in politics, business, and entertainment all know that we must not be...is content.

In Matthew Chapter 6 Jesus says, “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Jesus wants us to know how important we are to God, He wants us to know how much God loves us, and He wants us to know that our value and worth is not found in what we accumulate but in our Father’s love for us.