Being Too Content With Discontentment

It seems that there is a strange obsession within the body of Christ.  We seem ok with the idea of always being disgruntled, always being unhappy, always being dissatisfied, content to be discontent.  We become comfortable playing the part of the critic, always pointing out the problems and never working towards the solutions.  Oh how many times I have sat down to listen to the dissatisfactions and "issues" of individuals who always seem to have some dissatisfactions and "issues".  They seem only comfortable when something is wrong, when there is something to complain about.  In fact, many of these individuals feel uneasy when there is nothing to complain or obsess over.  They live in constant discontentment.

I have also heard the argument that those who have a critical eye and are willing to point out the faults are an important part of the growth and forward nature of the church.  But there is a major difference between having a prophetic voice for God that calls out for repentance and a satisfaction with always being a critical spirit.  Some people relish the role of always being the one swimming upstream a little too much.  They are a little too content with discontentment.

Paul says on a number of occasions the significance of contentment.  But especially in II Corinthians 12, Paul hammers home the point I am trying to make here.  Of all the early Christians that had reason to complain and to moan, Paul certainly could have made a case for his right to discontentment.  But instead Paul wrote these words in II Corinthians 12:10, "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Notice that Paul is not content with discontentment, he is content with "weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities."  We tend to be content with being upset about those things and complaining about them.  Instead, what if we found rest in the strength of the Lord when we were weak?  What if the next time the church you are a part of did something you disagreed with, you submitted instead of complaining?  What if the next time someone wronged you, you prayed for the well being of that individual instead of retaliating?  What if the next time discontentment started to creep in, you decided to be content with Jesus, rather than content with being discontent?