Contentment Versus Satisfaction
Did you every hear the Rolling Stones song, "I can't get no Satisfaction"?
"There's cold in the same sense that there's dark. You can't open the door to a room and have the dark spill out. Dark is the absence of light," says Dr. David Goldberg, a Drexel University physicist. (Deleware Online)
Physics tells us that there is no cold, only the absence of heat. Physics also tells us that there is no darkness, only the absence of light. I would contend that there is no satisfaction only the absence of contentment.
Our culture craves satisfaction. There is even a TV show about satisfaction and people in their search for it in relationships for better or worse. We spend so much of our time pursuing satisfaction, people experiment with everything they can think of to try and obtain this elusive concept.
I don't believe that it is possible to feel satisfied the way people are trying. When eating you can feel hungry, satiated, or full but satisfied is a concept created in the mind of what we should be and not what we are. It is always what we think we should be. To an extent it is grounded in entitlement. What a person believes they are to get or should get. Again, not based on the reality of what is but the creation of the mind of what they should be.
Very rarely is a person pleased with what they get when they get what they think they should. Because in the pursuit of satisfaction there is never enough. There is always a need for something more. Something more pleasing, more gratifying, more fulfilling, more fun, more addicting, more...?
Ecclesiastes 6:3-9 says it like this:
A man might have a hundred children and live to be very old. But if he finds no satisfaction in life and doesn't even get a decent burial, it would have been better for him to be born dead. His birth would have been meaningless, and he would have ended in darkness. He wouldn't even have had a name, and he would never have seen the sun or known of its existence. Yet he would have had more peace than in growing up to be an unhappy man. He might live a thousand years twice over but still not find contentment. And since he must die like everyone else--well, what's the use?
All people spend their lives scratching for food, but they never seem to have enough. So are wise people really better off than fools? Do poor people gain anything by being wise and knowing how to act in front of others?
Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don't have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless--like chasing the wind.
When is there every going to be enough? When are we going to be grateful for what is? That is where contentment comes in. Contentment is answer the Bible has to our worldly desire for satisfaction.
Contentment is God's answer to satisfaction. It begins with gratitude and is rooted in reality versus in desire.
Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again--rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.
Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
Desire is not necessarily a bad thing. But we are to be masters over our desires not to be controlled by them. So contentment is mastery over our desires and living in gratitude for our present situation and God's faithfulness in all situations.
Contentment is the solution to our ongoing struggle with the "I deserve..." battle. It is the solution to the I want battle and it puts the focus back on God and his faithfulness to be our provider and protector. It forces us to rely on Him and shows us how much he has provided already. It puts our attention back on God as our Heat and Light that we so desperately crave. Because at the end of the day, He is our first need and the solution to all our other needs and in him we find our fullness.
