I have been dwelling frequently on the topic of contentment. Why is this such a great struggle for women? Young, old, single, married, we all battle this feeling of desiring something more.
“It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.”
Proverbs 21:9
What does it mean to be quarrelsome? Contentious, argumentative, nagging spirit…What is the root? I was talking with my husband about this and his response was that the root cause of this contentious spirit is lack of contentment. A woman can so easily walk down this path when she lacks contentment. It all begins as she looses her thankfulness for the blessings that have been bestowed upon her. Instead of focusing on the blessings, she focuses on the negatives, her circumstances, the shortcomings of her husband or family, etc. One little thing upon the next, until finally her husband cannot stand dwelling with her. Instead of nagging her husband it would be so much more profitable to take it to the Lord in prayer. That way she leaves it in the Lord’s hands. Men can so easily loose their confidence with a nagging woman.
We must exchange the spirit of contention with the spirit of thankfulness.
The first thing that Paul always seems to focus on at the beginning of his epistles is thanking God for the church, for the believers and their faith. 1 Thessalonians for example says:
“We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; contantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ…” (1:2-3).
Even though throughout the remainder of the book he is dealing with problems in the church, his first and foremost focus is on thanking God for the work that He is doing in their lives. He focuses on the positive! He always saw past the circumstances in view of God’s mercy at the cross, as he continues in verses 4-5:
“knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you; for our gospel did not come in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction…”
There is always something to be thankful for! The other evening I was struggling greatly with some issues my little girl was having and my husband asked me, “what are you thankful for?” It was hard at first to switch gears but the sooner I did it and began making my list, the more joyful and happy I became. The heart of discouragement was replaced with joyful delight in the mercies of my Savior.
In light of this I decided to post on my bulletin board (see my previous post on this topic), “what am I thankful for today?” That way each and every day I can be reminded of the bountiful blessings that Christ has bestowed upon me.
Pursuing thankfulness instead of discontentment for the glory of God!
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