Discontentment: The Great Thief of Joy

Don’t let a wandering eye rob you of God’s greatest blessings.

What has discontentment stolen from you?

Look around at your life, and take stock of the things you see. Do you take joy in what you have, or only see things that ought to be better?
Sometimes slavery comes in the form of discontentment. tweet this!There’s nothing in life that can’t be evaluated. You can measure your marriage, your job, your house, your education and your bank account. As a result, it’s easy to find things to be insecure about: Are you smart enough? Pretty enough, athletic enough or successful enough?

Wealthy enough?

Money can make slaves of us by warping our attitudes in various ways. It can cause us to see our lives and the world around us in ways that are at odds with the word of God.

Sometimes that slavery comes in the form of discontentment.

Discontentment in the Age of Plenty

We live in an amazing world, full of opportunity, information and luxury. Modern technology and manufacturing have created amazing gadgets, tools, gizmos and toys. As a result, we are the most financially blessed generation that has ever lived.

But this all comes with a downside. The more money we make, the more we want to make — it has an intoxicating effect like that. And in the information age, where we are obsessed with the lifestyles of celebrities, so it’s easy to look at the heroes of the modern age and compare ourselves to them. But nobody wins the comparison game.

If you become fixated on what others have, it’s easy to lose sight of the wonderful things you have. As a result, you may even begin to despise your blessings. Focusing on the wealth and success of others breeds discontentment in our hearts.

Discontentment can crop up in many areas of our lives. It shows up in our marriages, families and finances. We can aspire to accomplish great things, but when we begin to disrespect or under-appreciate what we already have, discontentment takes root in our hearts.

Given its way, discontentment slowly turns you against God. Though you may believe in His provision, you despise the things He has provided. You see the great things someone else has and start to wonder “Why couldn’t God have given that to me?”

Continue down that road far enough, and you’ll end up hating the very blessings in your life that are supposed to bring you joy.
To take back what we've lost, we have to turn our discontent hearts into thankful ones. tweet this!And even more importantly, you’ll be bitter toward the God gave them to you.

Taking Back what Discontentment Has Stolen

Discontentment is the great thief of joy. So to take back what we’ve lost, we have to turn that discontent heart into a thankful one. Thankfulness helps us to see that the blessings God has given us are His best. And it sets us free from striving to have more.

The writer of Hebrews recognized this problem and offered a solution. Check out Hebrews 13:5:

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.

The eternal promises we have in Christ are much greater than any possession or trophy we could have on this earth. So set your eyes on those things and you’ll begin to see the blessings of this life as well.