Day 61 – Fading Contentment

Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file.

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“There is something about human nature that just doesn’t allow contentment to be a lasting and change-making part of our lives even in the best of circumstances.”

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 102.

Why is it that contentment is such a hard characteristic to obtain in our lives? And, when it is there, why doesn’t it last? I believe that there is something deep in the very essence of who we are that fights against contentment in ways that are actually detrimental to our long term wellbeing. This possibility makes it so easy for victim thinking behaviors to have their way in our lives.

When you look at what it means to be content you see the word satisfied used to give a better view as to what being content is all about. There is something that has been placed in us that wants to fight satisfaction in ways that might not always be in our best interests. I think that God put in us that fight against satisfaction and therefore the drive to battle contentment so that we will not settle for worldly things when it comes to defining who we are.

We are meant to find satisfaction in who God made us to be and fight the desire to find contentment in any other things that might influence of our identity. Yet we tend to get it completely backwards. We are often discontent with who God says we are when we can’t prove our God given identities as a result of the circumstances that we look to as confirmation of that identity. Left in that place of doubt when it comes to identity, we allow ourselves to find contentment in the temporary and unreliable things of this world. Victim thinking is the result of trying to be satisfied in who we are by settling for worldly proofs of some vision of who we think we should be.

Here’s what the bible says about the subject.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2 (NIV)

To conform takes effort. If I want a piece of metal to conform to a particular shape I need to apply heat and force to make it take the shape I want. Same goes for our lives. When we want them to conform to anything we will feel the heat and recognize the pressure needed for that process to happen. This is particularly the case when we choose to let our lives be conformed to anything in this world.

Our reading today warns us not to be conformed to the patterns of this world. I believe the biggest pattern or characteristic that this world pressures us to conform to is to let this world play the leading role in determining and confirming who we are. It is when the heat is turned up as bad situations occur and when the pressure of trying to fit in builds, that we are so quick to trade our God-given identity for something temporal.

The opposite to conforming is to be transformed according to today’s Bible verse. It is when our minds are renewed that we can be changed in a way to find satisfaction in who God made us to be and live the victor’s life he paid for us to have. Conforming to some other world driven identity is where victor living goes out the window and victim thinking swoops in to take its place.

How satisfied are you right now with who you are? What would you say is your contentment level at this moment when it comes to your identity as a victor? If you have settled for conforming to this world I am willing to bet that, when it comes to identity you are either struggling now or will find identity to be an issue when bad times hit.

To change that, it’s time to be transformed. Start the transformation process by simply believing you are God’s beloved child. It is from this place of faith that you can weather the storms of life in a way where your victor status can’t be taken right out from under you. Fight the drive to conform and be transformed so that the power of God’s will can be seen, understood and applied in every circumstance you come against today.