The Truth About Discontentment

This blog was meant to be written around Christmas but clearly that didn't happen. For those of you who don't know, in November, I became the administrator of my church and it's been a journey and a struggle at times trying to balance work, ministry stuff, a personal life, and still doing what God requires of me outside all of that (blogging, exercising, reading, resting, etc.). I feel like I barely have time to do anything but work and when I'm not working my brain typically is thinking about work (Yes, I confess that I am a borderline workaholic at times and will talk about that in a future blog). Even as I write this, there are so many projects that I could be working on but The Lord has been pressing it on my heart that I need to make blogging more of a priority.  Prayerfully, now that I've adjusted better to my workload, I will be blogging at least 2x a month!! 

When holidays like Christmas and Valentine's Day come around I believe that it becomes a lot easier to fall into the trap of discontentment. Today there are many people that will spend the entire day either:
1. Upset because they are single
2. Comparing their relationship or marriage to another person's based off what their significant other did or did not do.
  This is only one scenario of discontentment. You could be discontent with your job, family, car, life, school, etc. (the list is potentially never ending). I want to address the root of discontentment and share how The Lord has shown me to battle it.

 Discontentment-dissatisfaction with one's circumstances. Not happy with your situation, position, etc.

If you are like me, then you from time to time find yourself in a state of discontentment. In my own life it seems to sneak up on me out of nowhere. Sometimes it's literally an attack from the enemy and other times it's because I haven't properly guarded my heart and allowed my eyes to be taken off Christ. I personally believe that social media is one of top breeding grounds for discontentment. Maybe you are scrolling through your Instagram or Facebook timeline and then you see that a friend just got married or just got a promotion or just had a kid. At first, you are genuinely happy for them but as you continue to scroll you keep seeing all of these amazing things that are happening to everyone else and compared to what is going on in your life, their lives appear to be so much better. You begin to forget all that God has done and is currently doing in your life because your eyes are on someone else's blessings (aka jealousy). Then you wonder why you find your heart starting to become hardened and cold towards others. Sometimes discontentment occurs when talking to your family or friends. You may be single, saved, and waiting on The Lord for your spouse, but your family and friends keep drilling into your head that your clock is ticking and you haven't had a man in years. Or you could be married and trying to conceive a child but it just doesn't seem to be working. Maybe you have been working hard at your job for years and then someone who has been there, for a shorter period of time, gets a promotion. You might even be applying for college and as the acceptance and rejection letters start to roll in you begin to compare your responses to your classmates. Whatever the circumstances are, if we are honest with ourselves, we all fall into the trap of discontentment from time to time.

What would happen if you truly got everything you wanted and when you wanted it? Do you think you would truly then be content? The answer to that is no. Our flesh is always desiring more and never truly satisfied. There is a difference between what we NEED and what we WANT. When does what you have become enough? I'm not saying that it is wrong to desire more but when those desires cause us to be depressed, full of hate, frustrated, distracted, or jealous then we have a problem. Many of us have everything we need and are allowing our wants to cause us to be distracted from appreciating what we have already been given. We have accepted the bait of the enemy and our focus is all wrong! We don't truly trust that whatever God has given us is enough and desire more than what we need at this time. God has called for us to be focused on serving Him but that's impossible if we having pity parties over what we can't obtain right now. 

We allow temporal and earthly things to take our focus off of The Lord and rob of us of the joy and peace that He has promised us in His Word!!! To make it plain, we are selfish and we think of ourselves more highly than we ought. Our self-centered view of life is what keeps us discontent. The world does not revolve around us but around God and He has called us to love Him and to love others. If we truly loved our neighbors then we wouldn't have time to be jealous because we would be too busy celebrating with them. We are constantly in battle with our flesh and the enemy of this world. We want to be content and thankful for what we have but it can almost seem impossible because of all the images we are bombarded with every day. Our society is built around always desiring more. It is constantly lying to us that more is better; that the grass is greener on the other side. We are obsessed with obtaining more and having the latest and fastest items. You go out and purchase the latest iPhone and then 2 months later a newer iPhone comes out with maybe 1 or 2 different features and now your phone isn't good enough. We somehow think that newer is better and that more equals satisfaction.

Thankfully The Lord has given us a means of escape from discontentment. He showed me that when I praise Him for what I have, there's no room for me to be discontent. It's literally impossible to complain or be upset and praise God at the same time. I remember sitting in my room one Saturday night, having a pity party, when God convicted me and reminded me of where I was this time last year in my walk with Him and how drastic my circumstances have changed. Let's just say that was a HUGE wake up call for me and I immediately started to praise Him because He has done so much for me in such a short period of time. I've made it my business to now began to just thank God when the smallest bit of discontentment tries to make it's way into my mind or heart. The following passage of Scripture also has become a favorite of mine to recite:

"Let all that I am praise the Lord;
    with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.  

Let all that I am praise the Lord;
    may I never forget the good things he does for me. 

 He forgives all my sins
    and heals all my diseases. 

 He redeems me from death
    and crowns me with love and tender mercies. 

 He fills my life with good things.
    My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!"

Psalm 103:1-5 

Praise & worship takes our eyes off of ourselves and places them back on The Lord. Also we have to make sure that we are guarding our hearts and not giving the enemy a foothold. If you don't see it, then you usually don't want it. The moments I seem to be prone to becoming discontent are the moments when I have filled myself with either too much social media or TV. It's not uncommon for me to take a few days out of each month unplugged from television or social media just to ensure that I stay on the right path.

Proverbs 4:25-27 "Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don't get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil."

God has called us to be content in and with Him!!! To be honest, we have everything we need through our relationship with Jesus Christ. When we are discontent or complaining we are telling God that what He has given us isn't good enough and how He is running the world isn't proper. It's like a huge slap in His face. Could you imagine being the Creator and having your creation complain?
When things aren't moving at the pace you want them to remember that God has not left nor forsaken you. He has your best interest at heart and His timing is perfect. There is a time and season for everything (Ecclesiastes 3). The season that you are in right now will not last forever, even though the enemy wants you to believe the opposite. We have to cast down those ugly thoughts of comparison, jealousy, envy, covetousness, and greed. We can't allow those seeds to take root in our hearts or minds.

2 Corinthians 10:5 "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

The very situation you currently find yourself in may be the exact thing that God will use to prepare you for your destiny. To build your patience, trust, faith, devotion, and dependence on Him. My desire is to have so much faith and trust in The Lord that no matter if I have plenty or a little I stay content. To allow my relationship with Jesus Christ to be truly be enough!! Whether it's Valentine's Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving Day, or any other day out of the year, my heart's desire is to be content!

Philippians 4:11-12 "Not that I was ever in need, 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."

Since it is Valentine's Day, I want to encourage you to not let yourself become sad if you are single  but rejoice and celebrate with the people that God has placed around you. Go and share the love of Christ with others. Call up your girlfriends and go to the movies or out to dinner, spend some time with The Lord, and be thankful that you are single than in a dead-beat relationship that is going nowhere. Cherish this special time that you have with the Lord all to yourself!!! He loves you so much and wants to shower you with that love by spending time with you!! Most importantly be happy for those around you that are in God-ordained relationships and pray for them!!! Although it may seem like those in relationships have "the perfect life" they don't and the enemy is working everyday to try to destroy their relationship.

 I also started something called "Giving Thanks In February" in which every day on Instagram throughout February, the goal is to post at least one picture of something that I am thankful for that day. Today is day 14 and I admit I have missed a few days but it's been beneficial for me to be intentional about counting my blessings.  Feel free to join me!!! All you have to do is use the hashtag  #givingthanksinfebruary and post whatever you are thankful for that day.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Cierra

xoxo

P.s. As always feel free to email me at cierracotton@gmail.com and/or follow me on Instagram at lovepeacejoy_1 or on Facebook. God Bless you!!!