We are at war! Satan hates us, and he wants to destroy us. The enemy has many tricks up his sleeves. He is very good at what he does. He loves to play mind games with us and one such game is planting seeds of discontentment. He will plant them all along our pathway of life. Seeds of dissatisfaction, displeasure, disappointment, depression, disillusion, frustration, resentment, bitterness, misery, sadness, and unhappiness.
Satan wants you to feel stuck in your life. He wants you struggling with an overall feeling of unhappiness. The enemy wants you to focus on what you do not have. He wants you to always be angry and never at peace. He wants you frustrated and never satisfied. Discontentment comes from the heart. You start thinking over and over again, that you don't deserve the hand that you were dealt. You start thinking, consistently, I deserve better and I deserve to get better. You may even have the nerves to blame God for your current situation.
If you analyze discontentment, you will discover many reasons that causes discontentment. There is a constant craving for something that we don't have. Adam and Eve craved for the forbidden fruit. David craved for someone else's wife. There are many examples in the Bible about discontentment. Since the beginning of time, starting with Eve, we have been an unhappy group of people. After Eden, we have never fully been satisfied. If we are young, we want to be older. If we are old, we wish we were younger. If it is small, we want it bigger. If it is new, we want something newer. If we are skinny, we want to gain weight. If we are overweight we want to be skinny.
If you have an apartment, you want a condo. If you have a condo, you want a house. Or a new house. Or a bigger house. If you have a job, you want a better job, a bigger job, a closer job, with a bigger office, a better boss, better benefits, bigger and better opportunities. We always want what we do not have, because we think that the other thing is better for us, just because we do not have it.
Discontentment, can and will, manifest into pride. What is pride? Pride is sin. The sin of pride is an excessive preoccupation with self and one's own importance, achievements, status, or possessions. This sin is considered rebellion against God. Pride is called "the cancer of the soul."
Pride becomes sinful when it becomes excessively, self-focused and self-elevating. The Biblical sin of pride refers to a high or an exalted attitude. It is the opposite of humility. The Bible has many verses about pride: "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom" (Proverbs 11:2). Proverbs 8:13 says, "To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech." James 4:6-7 says, "But he gives more and more strength to stand against all such evil longings. As the Scripture says, God gives strength to the humble, but sets himself against the proud and haughty. So give yourself humbly to God, Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
I once had a co-worker who drove me crazy, because she was always putting herself on a pedestal. Each and everyday she would come into my office ranting about what she deserved. Her complaints was taller than herself. She deserved a larger salary. She deserved a higher position. She would make the comment, "Look at me! Don't I look like I deserve more that what I have?" I was never aware, that what you looked like made you more favorable or important than someone else. Now, she was the epitome of a walking definition of "pride."
Pride goes before destruction. Satan knows all about "pride." Satan fell from heaven. Why did he fall from heaven? He fell from heaven because of pride, he was wrapped in discontentment. He desired to be God, not to be a servant of God. Wait a minute, Satan did not really fall from heaven, he was pushed out. No! He was really, kicked-out of heaven. The devil is the proudest creature and the most discontented one, and he wants you to feel the same way as he does.
Pride leaves you to think that you deserve better than what God has given you, instead of thinking that you have everything you need. God is such a wonderful and awesome God. He doesn't give us what we really deserve. God loves us so much, instead of us spending eternity in hell, with fire and brimstone, He gave us His Son, and not what we deserved.
Thanks to God, we have a Savior who forgives us of our sins, who can help us grow in contentment. For Jesus has told us, "to be content with what we have." "Be content with such things you have" means, that you should put your trust and confidence in God, knowing that He is the Giver of all good things and He uses even the hard times to show us that He is faithful.
God wants us to, seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, "...for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:32-33). God is the secret to contentment. Discontentment is a sin!