"A Satisfied Mind”

There is an old country song by this same name. The opening lyrics go like this:

How many times have I heard someone say,
If I had his money, I’d do things my way,
But little they know, that it’s so hard to find
One rich man in ten, with a satisfied mind.

Satisfaction, contentment and acceptance of circumstances are rare qualities; on the other hand, it is easy to fall completely off the other side into lazy complacency. Discontent and complacency both are evil extremes, which the Christian is warned about in Scripture. The evil sidekick of discontent is complaining. By this, a person not only expresses his own discontent, but he also infects others with a similar attitude.

Some Definitions and a Biblical Background:

Contentment: The state of having one’s desires limited to what one has; willing or resigned…

Notice Paul’s experience: Phil. 4:11-14 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia defines contentment as: “To be free from care because of satisfaction with what is already one's own. The Hebrew means simply "to be pleased." The Greek brings out the full force of the word in 1 Tim 6:6-8.

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”

Or in Heb 13:5, "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

ISBE again says, "Contentment is more inward than satisfaction; the former is a habit or permanent state of mind, the latter has to do with some particular occurrence or object."

What difference would contentment make in your life right now?

Complaining: To express grief, pain, dissatisfaction, to find fault …, to grumble

The wilderness wanderings of the young nation of Israel are filled with complaints. See Exodus 16, Numbers 11, 14. In 1 Cor. 10:1-11 Paul re-flects on the dangers of the ancient Israelites complaining and faithlessness. He says in vs. 11 that these things were examples and warnings to us. Com-plaining is simply out of bounds for us as believers.

Jesus addressed it too in John 6:43, when he commanded the crowd to “Stop grumbling.”

Paul’s point in Phil 2:14 could not be more clear, Do everything without complaining or arguing. His reasoning is equally clear: We live in a crooked generation and are to shine like stars. How will we shine if we com-plain just like everyone else?

What are some things, people or situations you normally complain about?

Complacency:Smugness, excessive satisfaction, apathy, indifference, self-absorption, etc.

Originally this was a synonym of contentment and satisfaction. It has taken on a more negative connotation now.

The Lord was never pleased with this attitude either. Notice Amos’ curse against it: Amos 6:1-8 says, "Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost na-tion, to whom the people of Israel come! Go to Calneh and look at it; go from there to great Hamath, and then go down to Gath in Philistia. Are they better off than your two kingdoms? Is their land larger than yours?

"You put off the evil day and bring near a reign of terror. You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves. You strum away on your harps like David and impro-vise on musical instruments. You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.

"Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile; your feasting and lounging will end. The Sovereign LORD has sworn by himself—the LORD God Almighty declares: “I abhor the pride of Jacob and detest his for-tresses; I will deliver up the city and everything in it.”

Why is contentment rare?

A Satisfied mind is so rare, because if we search deep within us, we will dis-cover that, our hearts are continually craving things, people or new and dif-ferent situations. This is an aspect of our innate sinfulness. Original sin brought us all into a state of sin and misery. A significant aspect of that misery is discontent. Discontent robs us of peace and rest. It causes us to be critical of others. It pushes us into a position of continual striving and to-ward an ungodly competitive spirit.

Adam and Eve, in the garden, were not content with the situation given to them by God. The Serpent aroused discontent in Eve. She and Adam should have accepted their position from God and all that he had provided for them; and they should have been grateful for it. By the urging of Satan, she began to feel that God had somehow held out on them, therefore opening the door for their rebellion.

Discontent is a huge doorway to almost every other sin.

Read and meditate on the discontent involved in these accounts:

Cain & Able Gen 4:1-16
David and Bathsheba 2 Sam 11:1-21
Ahab & Naboth 1 Kings 21:1-24

Can you see how discontentment with current circumstances led each of these people into greater sin in order to satisfy the craving of their heart? This shows how the natural human heart works. We are full of cravings, longings and demands. When we allow ourselves to think and ponder, our discontent usually grows; then at some point we act on it to some degree. We may not go to the extremes that these biblical personalities did, but we act non-the-less.

Stop and ponder your own heart cravings here - Which ones are at work?

Jot some down…

Contentment is rare because it is opposed to everything that sin dictates. The corruption in our hearts pushes us to follow our cravings or to give up in lazy complacency and demand that others provide for us in some way. So it is difficult to find contentment in our hearts without falling off into one ditch or the other.

If this is the case is there any hope? If there is hope how do I find it? How do I start on a new road of contentment and a satisfied mind?

Finding Contentment:

1. I DESERVE…!

A foundation stone and essential starting point is found in the question, “What do I really deserve?” When we answer this biblically and correctly we will be making significant progress in our endeavor toward contentment.

I think we can all agree that we are all sinners, grievous sinners at that! Scripture is clear that any sin deserves the wrath and curse of God – there-fore given the multitude of sins we have committed we deserve to be imme-diately consigned to Hell forever.

With that as a backdrop, does it not display the dome of absolute mercy in which we live! If I deserve Hell and I happen to have a bad day or someone else wins the game, contract or position – How can I complain if what I do have is better than Hell?

It is the incessant push of our selfish hearts that says we deserve better than we have. Because of this deep-seated belief, we find it impossible to be con-tent because we always feel that we are being ripped off. Let’s call this the “I Deserve Factor” (IDF). Therefore, whenever we sense within ourselves that we are complaining or striving in a desperate manner, then look for how you are using the IDF. What are you believing or telling yourself that you deserve? If the IDF were removed from our belief system we could never be discontent because we would always believe that we are receiving more than we deserve.

This is not to say we ought to allow grand injustice to go on and never say a word or that we ought never to report a crime etc. But, we can never say to God, I do not deserve this lot in life. Since we are the heirs of Adam’s rebel-lion and consistent sinners ourselves, we need to see that we have forfeited any rights before God.

2. GRACE

Second we need to have a greater appreciation and understanding of Grace!

This goes hand in hand with the IDF. When we believe that we deserve stuff then we are already tuning away from a concept of grace. Grace is commonly defined as undeserved favor. Grace has been divided into two categories: common and particular. Common grace is that grace which all receive from the hand of God, in the form of his providential care. This in-cludes things like sunlight, rain, food, air, observable beauty, medicine, and the list could go on and on. (Mat 5:45, Ps 145:8-10)

This idea of common grace is an important one. It is here that we often loose our perspective and our minds become dissatisfied. When our desire for things becomes strong, the IDF kicks in and we begin to demand that our longing be met; and we forget that all things come from God and in turn we forget about common grace.

Beyond common grace there is saving grace or it is sometimes called par-ticular grace. This grace of God comes to a broken and rebellious sinner and grants salvation to that sinner by granting a new heart that has affection for God; and the sinner is enabled to believe. By faith, flowing from that new heart, the sinner is then declared good and righteous before God because the righteous merit of Jesus is given over to the sinners account. Further, the sinner is adopted into God’s family and made a child of God. The more we understand this particular grace, the more our hearts ought to overflow with gratitude to God for all his redemptive work on our behalf. (Eph 1-2, Rom. 3-5)

By common grace God provides for our daily needs; and he has often blessed us in abundance. In particular grace, God provides the necessary sacrifice to accomplish our redemption – and thereby makes proper provi-sion for all believers for all eternity. This is the basis of our satisfied mind. Anyone who is not a recipient of particular grace is in no position to have a satisfied mind. Their mind ought to be in great turmoil because they are not reconciled to God. But, on the other hand, those who have received particu-lar grace, ought to have a satisfied mind – they are reconciled to God and also know that even the daily provisions of life come from God their Savior!

3. PROCESS

Let’s look a Passage of Scripture that actually is the foundation for Paul’s contentment that we referred to at the beginning of this pamphlet.

Phil 4:6-9, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and peti-tion, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-- think about such things.

"Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-- put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."

Take note of the process suggested in what Paul says. There is an order to his comments and that order yields the contentment of which he speaks in verses 10-13.

Pray

In vs 6 Paul begins with an imperative – a negative command – Do not be anxious about anything. Sounds like he is right in the ballpark for this pam-phlet! Paul knows, however, you can’t just command someone to stop wor-rying – so he does not stop there. Rather than being anxious, he says we are to pray.

Notice what he includes - first is prayer, this is speech directed to God. He then adds “petition.” Some translations use the word supplication. The word has its roots in being in a condition of need or lacking basic necessi-ties, and therefore takes on the meaning of, asking or begging for help and aid.

So we are to talk to God and bring to him all of our needs and desires – all the things we would naturally worry about. Paul adds to this requesting side of prayer – giving thanks. We are to ask for what we need but also thank him for all he has done for us already.

Think

Just by praying itself Paul says peace will come to us, but he does not stop there he gives specific instructions to us about how we ought to think. He lists for us the types of things we ought to think about. Look at his list: true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy! How much of our thinking goes into things very much the opposite of this list? Our thinking often can plunge into a very perverse list: lies, fear, unjust specula-tions, vengeance, envy, jealousy, lust, hate and bitterness. These always will create dissatisfaction and loss of contentment.

We need carefully to guard our minds. We need to control what we think about. This is one of the toughest battles we are called on to conduct. Habits of thought are the hardest to overcome. We need to saturate our minds in the gospel and in the knowledge that we are children of God and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and therefore, empowered to change. We need to force our-selves to think about other things than those things that cause our anxiety and dissatisfaction. Replacing this “bad” thinking with new positive mental activity (remember Paul’s list vs 8), will move us toward contentment and a satisfied mind. For instance instead of thinking of picking apart every thing that happens look of the subtle blessings of God. Let’s look for the true, the good, the praiseworthy. Let’s work at keeping the IDF out of our thought process by developing a regular habit of being grateful.

This is hard because our thoughts will always try to go back to the habitual way of thinking. We need to resist again and again. We may succeed for 30 seconds and the old stuff comes crashing back in on us. We need to redirect our thoughts to the positive Philippian list and try again, and again, and again. Eventually a new habit of thought can be forged.

If at sometime we feel trapped by our thoughts and cannot seem to break free from them, then it is time to call a friend and talk it through and allow them to help us think differently. After we have prayed about something and we are struggling to make changes in our thinking, it is good to continue to pray. The fact that we have begun to work on our thinking does not can-cel our need to pray. Pray and think good thoughts! Pray and think, think and pray…

Do

In verse 9 of this passage, Paul tells the Philippians to put into practice the things they had seen in him. So they were to add to prayer and thinking, do-ing. Some of our anxieties can be solved by actually creating a plan and do-ing something about it. Sometimes, though, we are overwhelmed by the size of a project. Let’s use the analogy of a huge pile of rocks. In toto, it is a daunting task. “I’ll never be able to move that thing!” we say. If, on the other hand, we create a plan which says to take 10 minutes per day and move 2 wheelbarrow loads in time the pile is moved. We have achieved the goal, we have a sense of satisfaction and we have one less thing to be anx-ious about.

By doing, we are not suggesting a frenetic frenzy of activity which accom-plishes little, but rather planned, organized and purposeful work that with due diligence actually completes tasks. The former just exacerbates anxiety and discontent while the latter brings satisfaction for work that is complete and well done.

An important question to ask of this passage in Philippians is, what had Paul demonstrated and what is he asking them to mimic? He tells them in the succeeding verses.

"I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have re-newed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been con-cerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.

"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

Paul says that he had learned to be content in any and every circumstance.

Notice his reaction to the storm and subsequent shipwreck in Acts 27. When he was in lack of food etc. he trusted Christ and his providential care - when he lived in plenty he did so gratefully and had a heart to share with others (Gal. 2:10).

He actually believed that Christ strengthened him to endure in all situations. Do we not serve and trust the very same Christ. Is he not able to strengthen us too? Can we not endure any trial without anxiety? But we, for the most part, are not even talking about severe trials. Much of our discontent is not from those tough times of life, but just the regular daily stuff or people that we wish would be different.

So, back to doing. We need to figure out what needs to be done and what can be done. We cannot make as a goal, a plan that includes the cooperation of another person – or if we do, at least know that, at that point, it is no longer in our hands to complete it. Unless we are certain of someone else’s cooperation, it is best to make plans for “doing” that include only ourselves.

Don’t forget when we are in the doing stage prayer and thinking still con-tinue! Remember also that there is not always something that we can do or there may be serious limits on what we can do – therefore we must trust God and his providence. We must, especially at the point when we realize that we cannot change what we are facing, fight against the IDF with all our might – that takes us back to thinking.

If in our process we discover that there are certain things we can do to alle-viate a particular problem then we should do it – but always leaving the re-sults to God. Prayer is important here – prayer that we would be willing to accept the results that God brings. Prayer which takes the cravings, lusts and demands of our hearts seriously is crucial through out this whole process. Always be quick to examine your heart and how the IDF is currently func-tioning. But be even quicker to repent of all such idolatry.

Do you see how interwoven praying, thinking and doing are? We are never done with any of them! Desiring the kind of life where these three are not a vital part of living is not available to us on this side of death. This life is full of trials and difficulties. We live in a cursed world and we are sinners living among other sinners – there is no utopia here!

At this point read 2 Corinthians Chapter 4.

Jot down some notes as you read.

How does this chapter fit in with what we have been learning about contentment?

Now read Hebrews 11.

How did faith in God and his faithfulness carry these people through the situations of life they were called to face?

Read and perhaps memorize Jer 17:9 What does this tell you about your own heart? Is it to be trusted? Memorize also Pro. 3:5-6. This is a good antidote for our hearts.