Today, tomorrow and every single day, you are faced with constant lies. The lies come in the form of slick advertisement with upbeat music and breathtaking scenes. The lies are conveyed through talented actors whose lives themselves are not all what they appear to be. The lie is simply that you need more in your life to experience real contentment and satisfaction. Those who truly are thankful don’t get caught up in the frenzy of getting more stuff. We all have needs and God knows that, but are you content? Do you know how to live a life of contentment? The apostle Paul said,
It takes a lot of personal growth to get to this spiritual summit of contentment, but that is where you can see the goodness of God all around you for miles and miles. It’s there that you realize, “I really already have all I need in my God and Savior Jesus Christ.” It’s at this spiritual altitude where your gratitude empowers you to overcome the non-stop nagging desires for more stuff. We don’t know how long it took Paul to learn the most valuable life lesson, but his contentment was comprehensive because he said, “everywhere and in all things I have learned.” That’s the life God has for us, to be content no matter where we are, and that’s how Paul was able to say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
The advertisers are never going to stop appealing to our fleshly desires to buy more and get more because that’s what they are paid to do. But we can keep climbing/walking/growing in our faith in God to be the one who satisfies us and meets our needs. He already knows what we have need of, so we don’t have to be anxious or worried, but we can be content and at peace. You can be where you are in contentment, but only as long as you are where you are “through Christ” and trust God to supply.