The last thing any ambitious person would want is to be stagnant, and many of us feel that to live a life of contentment will lead to stagnation. We think that being content in Christ means that we will miss out on everything else. That is most definitely incorrect.
In truth, Jesus leads to great gain, not great complacency.
The biggest misconception of godly living is that it will automatically lead to an impoverished, barely-making-it life with no direction and purpose either than singing "hallelujah!" and going to church. And while there is nothing wrong with that life as many are called in it, that is not the life that God has prepared for us.
Some people have been wired by God to be achievers who want to make millions so they can bless others, who want to build empires for the glory of God, and who want to build influence so that they can share Jesus with as many people as possible. If that's you, God wants you to know that you cannot over-dream Him. The way we achieve those goals may appear a whole lot different than what we think.
The world wants you to think that to gain immense amount of wealth and influence, it's got to be about what we can do. But God tells us that it's not about us but about the God who wants to work through us. Do you trust God enough to do things His way even if it appears slower, less strategic and more expensive?
1 Timothy 6:6 tells us, "But godliness with contentment is great gain."
Two things that make for successful empire building, the Bible tells us, are godliness and contentment. To build without these two things will only lead to more material things, not more purpose. God's purpose is best done God's way.
Sadly, to many people—Christians even—money and wealth are the great end goal of all they do.
But unless Jesus is the end goal and the propagation of His love and compassion toward others, we miss the mark.
If anything, we must learn to be content in Christ in times of plenty and times of hardships because only then will we be truly at peace. You may not have all the money you have yet and things just might not be going the way you'd like, but that's okay because Jesus is by your side and He will bring you satisfaction in good times and bad.
As Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6:33, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
When we make the pursuit of Jesus the goal of our everyday living, we will end every day with great contentment, not worrying about tomorrow or about whether we'll ever achieve our goals, but instead knowing that as long as we are in Christ, we have all we need and we live our lives just the way it should be lived.
