Contentment

We've started a new series at our church on the "Big 7", the Seven Deadly Sins. This last Sunday was the second week of the series and I'm really enjoying how the pastor has designed it. He is sharing thoughts on not only the "sin" itself, but it's counterpart. Last week was Pride/Humility and this week was Greed/Generosity. This week he also added a second counterpart... Contentment. It hit close to home for me as I struggle with this a lot, I always have.

One thing our pastor said about contentment was key to me. He said "Nothing will make you happier than when you look beyond yourself." This applies to generosity as well as contentment. This is also similar to something David says to me a lot when I get into a bad mood. He'll say "what have you done for someone else today?" We can get so tied up with our "stuff", what we do and don't have, what others have. None of that matters. God calls us to give to others and be simply content with what He has given us...not always wanting more and more. When we focus on ourselves and "getting" what we want we will never be satisfied, we will just always want more. Giving will make us far happier than wanting more for ourselves.

Now if I could just remember that more often...as usual, I'm working on it.