Is Grass Greener
on My Side or Other Side?
But godliness with contentment is great gain. 1
Timothy 6:6 (NIV)
Years ago, Russell Conwell told of an
ancient Persian, Ali Hafed, who “owned a very large farm that had orchards,
grain fields, and gardens... and was a wealthy contented man.” One day a wise
man from the East told the farmer all about diamonds and how wealthy he would
be if he owned a diamond mine. Ali Hafed went to bed that night a poor man—poor
because he was discontented. Craving a mine of diamonds, he sold his farm to
search for the rare stones. He traveled the world over, finally becoming so
poor, broken, and defeated that he committed suicide. One day the man who
purchased Ali Hafed’s farm led his camel into the garden to drink. As his camel
put its nose into the brook, the man saw a flash of light from the sands of the
stream. He pulled out a stone that reflected all the hues of the rainbow. The
man had discovered the diamond mine of Golcanda, the most magnificent mine in
all history. Had Ali Hafed remained at home and dug in his own garden, then
instead of death in a strange land, he would have had acres of diamonds. The
more we want from a human perspective, the less we have.
Contentment is a highly prized but
hard-to-produce Christian virtue. God wants us to cultivate contentment while
the world promotes dissatisfaction. Commercials encourage us to buy newer, go
bigger, and want more, causing discontentment to spill over into every area of life.
We are growing more and more discontent in our jobs, our marriages, our
churches, and our homes. But, even though contentment does not come naturally,
the Bibledoes teach us that we must be content (Hebrews
13:5) and that we can be content.
The apostle Paul encouraged his young
apprentice Timothy that great value is found when godliness and contentment go
hand in hand. While many may look to money or possessions to bring them
contentment, they will find that those pursuits will only leave a person unsatisfied
and unfulfilled. The problem is that once you finally reach the top rung of the
success ladder, something is still missing: contentment.
Contentment does not come easily, and is
not a gift given by the Holy Spirit. Contentment must be learned. Even Paul had
to learn this quality as he declared, “For I have learned in whatever state I
am, to be content” (Philippians 4:11). Paul knew what success was, and he knew
suffering well. But he also learned to be content no matter the circumstance.
Contentment begins by being rightly
related to God and trusting in His sovereign, loving, and purposeful providence.
Contentment is knowing that whatever happens in life, God has allowed it, God
intends it for good, and God has His glory in mind. In other words, contentment
means that you are confident in God’s sovereignty and His sufficiency in every
situation, whether good or bad. God often uses the bad situations, the
problems, frustrations, and concerns we experience in life to teach us how to
be content and to bring us to the place where He not only provides for our
every need, but He becomes our every need.
Contentment is not complacency, or a
defeated resignation that this is your life and you must learn to accept things
the way they are. Contentment involves a relentless pursuit of a deeper, more
intimate relationship with God while trusting God for everything else. This
does not mean settling for second best; rather, contentment means trusting that
God knows best. Contentment does not mean that you forfeit ambition, but does
mean that you have faith in God’s direction. To know God and want nothing but
more of God is the secret to contentment. For the Christian, the grass is
always greenest wherever God has placed you.
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