It’s pretty obvious, contentment is not easily found in this life. If it were, authors would not be making millions by writing books promising to help you find contentment in this life. In many ways in our culture, happiness and contentment are married. You cannot have one without the other. In the city of Seattle the search from contentment/happiness has reached a new level of importance in the city as a group called Sustainable Seattle has started the Seattle Area Happiness Initiative (SAHI). SAHI is part of the Gross National Happiness Index who’s goal is to “create simple and approachable platforms for all cities and regions to collect data (about happiness) ¹.

However, the contentment preached and sought by anyone who does not know Christ is weak and fleeting. Paul, in his address to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:1-10 teaches something radically different than what the culture offers for contentment.

Cultural View of Contentment:

When you look at what the culture offers for contentment it can be boiled down into three basic categories 1) Works-Based, 2) Multiperspectivalis and, 3) Neo-Asceticism

Works-Based Contentment

This point of view basically teaches that you need to do some good deed for you to find contentment. Therefore, if you do not feel content, you simply need to do more good. This leads to someone finding contentment in the fact that they are an uber-recycle’r and are doing their part to keep the earth clean and happy. Or this means they will serve the poor once a week to help themselves feel better about themself because they’ve committed their “meaningful deed”. Again, this point of view simply says that you must do something good to find contentment.

Multiperspectivalism

This point of view teaches that contentment is found by combining multiple different perspectives to help you find contentment in a mish-mash of different ideologies, philosophies and religions. You could basically call this Oprah-ism. You take a little bit of Christianity because Jesus was a good guy, then you take some Buddhism because this will help you deal with suffering and then you employ some pantheism so that you care for the earth because of it’s spiritual qualities. In combining several different forms you can take what is best about each perspective and leave out what is (in your mind) the worst part thereby creating something better than all perspectives individually.

Neo-Asceticism

Asceticism teaches that you must rid yourself of everything in order to find meaning and contentment in the universe. Old-School Asceticism found men and women beating and starving themselves to find meaning in their pain. Western Asceticism is not quite so hard-core, however there is an idea of asceticism that pervades today’s “contentment” messages taught by our culture. Many in our culture would teach that you must live a simple life devoid of excess riches and possessions to find true contentment. In many ways this is a form of asceticism, what I like to call Neo-Asceticism.

Paul’s View of Contentment:

Paul looks at contentment in a very different way than our culture would view it. First and foremost in Paul’s teaching regarding contentment is his Christology. Without rightly understanding the gospel any teaching about contentment is like trying to quench thirst with sand. It’s impossible. Paul teaches that anyone who teaches contrary to the Scripture and sound doctrine (literally healthy words) understands nothing, and so it goes with those who teach about contentment who don’t know Christ (1 Timothy 6:3-5).

Three Enemies of Contentment

1. Disrespecting those in authority over you (1 Timothy 6:1-2). One of the best ways for you to destroy your contentment is to disrespect those in authority over you. Paul begins by teaching those who are under the yoke of slavery to respect their owners. How much more true is this teaching in the context of the workplace where you are choosing to work under someone instead of being forced to? The more you disrespect those in authority over the more bitter you get, because when you disrespect you feel validated in your anger and begin a cycle of disrespecting and bitterness towards those in authority over you. Even if the person over you has no idea how to do their job, you are still to respect them. If you don’t you revile the word of God and incur discipline from your Heavenly Father.
2. False Teachers (1 Timothy 6:3-5). These people teach that you can find in contentment in anything other than Jesus. These people are liars and the contentment they offer is poison to your soul. Self-help books are poison. Oprah is poison. There is no one apart from Christ who can offer you true contentment.
3. Greed (1 Timothy 6:8-10). Money has led many astray. One of my personal pet-peeves with this passage is that many mis-quote it saying, “money is the root of all evil”. This is not what Paul says, he says its the “root of all kinds of evil”. Money is not evil. The person who seeks it is evil. Money doesn’t cause you to sin, your crooked heart causes you to sin. What is dangerous about money (especially in our culture today) is that it too easily becomes an idol that replaces God as our object of greatest delight. Too often people believe that money will solve more problems than it has the power to. If you have a proclivity or lean towards the worship of money, you should listen to Jesus’ words as your rebuke and caution, “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24).

Three Encouragers of Contentment

1. Sound Doctrine. When you know that you cannot generate your own contentment, but that it is only found in your perfect Lord you can now seek it. To know that you are a sinner that cannot save yourself by your good deeds, but that Christ has saved you through His good deed and exchanged his righteousness for your sinfulness drives you to contentment.
2. A Theological Grounding on your Possessions. What you have is not yours. God has given it to you to steward or take care of. When you understand that all you posses is given to you, your perspective on why you have what you have, and what you need completely changes.
3. The Gospel. You are not God. Jesus is. You are not good, Jesus is. You cannot save yourself in anyway, only Jesus can. You always need the gospel, whether you’ve been saved for 40 years or you’ve never met Jesus. God is the gospel. You need Him at all times.