christian living on Discontent

In this tragic world, we are surrounded by discontented people. Every minute of the day, it is possible to see evidence of this restless discontentment in the way people respond to circumstances. Peop...

Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better.

We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction.

A simple refusal motivates my argument: refusal to believe that the present time and place, and the people who are here with us, are somehow not enough. Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram act li...

Jim Rayburn, the founder of Young Life, a nationwide youth ministry, used to say, “It’s a sin to bore a kid with the gospel.” But what about adults? Is it okay to bore grownups with the gospel? I ask ...

Ancient lens What’s the historical context? A Historical Clue The superscript of Psalm 51 gives us a historical clue about the composition of this Psalm, “A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophe...

He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.

Contentment is when we tell the Shepherd that His provision is enough for all our physical and material needs. If our old car gimps down the road, that is fine. If we get a shiny newer auto with less ...

Whoever is not satisfied with Christ alone, strives after something beyond absolute perfection.

Christian contentment does not mean that we passively accept afflicting circumstances, making no effort to improve our situation. Neither does it mean laying down for injustice in this world.

True contentment is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it.

Gregg Easterbrook wrote about this in a 2003 book called The Progress Paradox. Easterbrook’s subtitle was How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse. He describes how affluent we have become—​​​bett...

There are two ways to get enough: One is to accumulate more and more, the other is to desire less.

Sad will be the day for every man when he becomes absolutely contented with the life he is living, with the thoughts that he is thinking, with the deeds that he is doing, when there is not forever bea...

Christian contentment… is the direct fruit of having no higher ambition than to belong to the Lord and to be totally at His disposal and the place He appoints, at the time He chooses, with a provision...

Learning to be satisfied with what we have rather than desiring more, more, more— this is the essence of joy.

You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.' You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled.

God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.

Aren't you like me, hoping that some person, thing, or event will come along to give you that final feeling of inner well-being you desire? Don't you often hope: "May this book, idea, cou...

If we have not quiet in our minds, outward comfort will do no more for us than a glass slipper on a gouty foot.

Years ago Wendy and I were out to dinner and she observed that something was different about our marriage in recent years, something good. She asked me if I had any insight into what it was. After ref...

Holy God, we come to You confessing that we never have enough. We are never satisfied with what You have given us. We look at others with envy and we want more, even when our homes are overflowing wit...

Silence. All human unhappiness comes from not knowing how to stay quietly in a room.

Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.

This is the middle. Things have had time to get complicated, messy, really. Nothing is simple anymore…. Disappointment unshoulders his knapsack here and pitches his ragged tent.

John D. Rockefeller was once asked how much money it would take to be really satisfied. He answered, “Just a little bit more!”

Poor and content is rich, and rich enough.

Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.

All the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own room.

In one of the classic scenes from Charles Dickens’ novel Oliver Twist, the misfortunate young orphan, Oliver, is stuck in a workhouse, laboring for long hours and getting barely enough gruel to keep h...