Contentment Is a Choice

Week 20, Monday

Cathy Horner

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Proverbs 4:23

Discontent is such a part of the fabric of our world that even Christians hardly notice when it has taken deep root within their hearts. In this age of grasping ambition and materialism, to declare yourself content draws incredulous responses from neighbors and coworkers!

How profound is our heavenly Father’s admonition to His children to guard their hearts! When we allow discontent to take root in our hearts, we become unable to enjoy the things we have. How blind we become to God’s goodness and grace! (see James 1:17).

My husband and I both came from families that had little money for anything but the necessities: a roof over our heads, clean clothes, and food on the table. We agreed early in our courtship that since Jesus was the Lord of our lives, our time and whatever possessions we had were His to do with as He pleased. Therefore when my husband decided to attend seminary, the future reality of living off a modest pastor’s salary did not threaten my state of contentment.

To my surprise, discontentment reared its ugly head in another arena. I sat in our hot little apartment in a stew because I was pregnant again, only thirteen months after our first son was born. How could God do this to us? Hadn’t we told Him our plan was to have our children three years apart? Now here I was pregnant too soon and wretchedly nauseous. I carried on my daily duties as wife and mother, but with no peace and with a simmering sense of martyrdom. Our medical insurance was not adequate to cover this pregnancy. I dramatically declared that we’d be paying for this new child until he went to college!

Soon, I began to bleed and the obstetrician put me on bed rest for the weekend. There, I heard the Lord whisper to my stilled heart, “Do you want this child, or not?” I did want that sweet baby! Weeping, I confessed my prideful rebellion and I aligned my heart to God’s will. That day, by poring over the Word, I learned some memorable lessons about contentment.

God is sovereign (see 1 Chronicles 29:11). He alone is in control and in His wisdom He has put me where He ordained. The choice of a yielded heart is to bloom where I am planted.

Contentment is a choice. Left unguarded, my heart will listen to Satan’s lies that God doesn’t value me or that He is holding something back from me. The core of my contentment lies in understanding and trusting God’s love for me (see Ephesians 3:17-18).

The closer I draw to Jesus in loving intimacy, the less my heart will be distracted by the selfish absorptions of this world (see Isaiah 26:3).

Lord Jesus, teach me to recognize and refuse those thoughts that make me discontent with Your hand in my life. Instead, I choose to guard my heart by focusing upon Your unfailing love for me. Amen.