Thanksgiving Leads to Contentment
Discontentment seems to be an epidemic. If you are struggling to find contentment then you may be missing God’s blessings and provision as you are focused on what you don’t have in your life. This is nothing new we saw this in the Israelites in the Old Testament as they wandered the wilderness before entering the Promised Land. They had been so maltreated by the Egyptians while enslaved there yet they grumbled about wanting to return to the very place that had enslaved them. Does this sound familiar? Perhaps you have struggled with discontentment in your life.
As we enter the week of Thanksgiving it is a perfect time to evaluate your gratitude meter. Take some time to reflect on the faithfulness of God in your life in this past year. Begin by counting your blessings… are you grasping to find something to be thankful for? How about this new day that God has given you? Do you have a roof over your head? That’s right begin with the things you may take for granted on a daily basis to begin your list and as you do pray and allow God to reveal more blessings than you had originally thought. We are reminded in James 1:17, that every good and perfect gift comes from God. Give thanks to God for all He has done and then each day can be a treasure hunt of the blessings of God that you can thank Him for.
When we learn to thank God for everything we begin to grow more and more content. It is easy to be content when things are going well but the Apostle Paul encouraged us to go beyond that as he wrote to the church at Philippi:
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“…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 ALL THINGS THROUGH HIM WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH.
