To Have a Life Well Lived, We Need to Cultivate Contentment

Jesus put it this way, “And Jesus said to them, ‘take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions’” (Luke 12:15) Stress, anxiety and fear capture the mind of many Americans today. We have witnessed dramatic market losses, the collapse of the world’s largest insurance company, the largest Savings and Loan failure in banking history, numerous bankruptcies, mergers and fraud. The causes of our national economic woes are many. We could point to deregulations of financial industries, subprime mortgages, and the housing bubble. But beneath all of these direct causes are the deeper, indirect problems of the current crisis. These ultimate causes are not financial but spiritual. We also need to think about gluttony, greed, envy, and ultimately pride. Unwilling to delay gratification, we used tomorrow’s money to finance today’s lifestyle.

We focused our energy on acquiring more and newer, bigger and better. The funny thing was all of our consuming did not increase our joy in life, if anything it tended to rob us of the joy and increase our stress. The American dream became the American nightmare due to two things: affluenza and credit. Affluenza is the constant need for more and bigger and better stuff. Shopping is one of American’s favorite pastimes. Advertisers are good at finding something we need: new clothes, a new computer, new furniture, a new car, a new kitchen, a new house. Credit creates the opportunity to buy now and pay later. It’s an illness that is brought on by promises of “six months same as cash,” or a 20% discount if you use your store credit card. It’s basically the idea that you can enjoy something today and pay for it tomorrow. Do some of you remember a different way to operate? It was called Layaway—what an odd idea—to save up the money and make payments and be able to take the items home only after paying for them in full. Interesting point from the research of our spending patterns is this. The average sale is around 125% higher if we use a credit card than if we pay cash, because we are not thinking about the money when we use credit.  It doesn’t feel real when we use plastic instead of cash.

Paul writes this, “I have learned to be content with whatever I have.” (Philippians 4:11) One of the most important keys to contentment and happiness is to develop a grateful heart. Gratitude is essential if we are to be content. The Apostle Paul said that we are to “give thanks in all circumstances.” (I Thessalonians 5:18) A grateful heart recognizes that all of life is a gift. Contentment comes when we spend more time giving thanks for what we have than thinking about what’s missing or wrong in our lives. In any situation, we either can complain or be grateful. We can focus on all the things we don’t like, or we can begin to search for the things we do like and be grateful for them. We can focus on the disappointments, or we can give thanks for the blessings.

May you live a life well lived,

Pastor Qualley