Philippians 4:10–13 (ESV)
10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Over the past few years, I’ve come to the conclusion that our society lives in a constant state of discontentment.

We’re not happy with our leaders, with our spouse, our children, or the things that we have. Our house is too small, our TV is an older model and our smartphone doesn’t have the latest 5G technology. So, what’s a person to do in order to find contentment in such a restless world, and why can’t we seem to find the contentment that we’re looking for?

Many of us are trying to fill a void of some kind in our lives, and unfortunately, we try to fill that void with things that can’t satisfy. We look to fill the void with possessions or money, but we only end up wanting more. We try to fill it with relationships or sex, but we end up feeling even more empty and depressed than when we started.

All of these things we try to fill our lives with aren’t necessarily bad things, but when they become the end goals, and the reason for our being, we end up being discontent because those things were never meant to fulfill us.

The only place that we can really find true fulfillment and contentment is in Christ. True contentment isn’t something that we find in things, people or circumstances. It can only be discovered in our convictions.

The Bible calls us to allow our convictions, not our circumstances, to govern our sense of contentment. True, biblical contentment is a conviction that Christ’s power, purpose and provision is sufficient for every circumstance. We are to learn how to walk through all kinds of adversity believing in and experiencing Christ’s sufficiency. We have to choose to rest on God’s good promises despite what may be going on in our lives.