Discontentment Leads to Sin

Are you content? Are you content in your heart for all that God has done for you, or do you find yourself discontent, always striving for more? Though we live in a world that teaches us to strive, grind, and pursue; really discontentment leads to sin.

Discontentment Leads to Sin

Discontentment leads to sin because our discontentment really stems from a few heart issues:

Ungratefulness
Selfishness
Pride
Entitlement
Greed

These are just a few of the heart issues that can cause us problems and lead us to sin, resulting in us aborting the plan and process that God has for our lives. Consider Philippians 4:11, which discusses contentment:

“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”

We must learn to be content. Key word: learn. A motivating factor in learning how to be content is in understanding the trouble that discontentment causes. Think about it. What did Satan stir up in Eve when enticing her to sin?

Discontentment.

He caused her to question what God had given her. He made her feel as though there was more that the world had to offer her. As a result of this deception, Eve became discontent with the magnificent blessings that had been freely bestowed upon her.

Deception leads to discontentment which leads to sin.

As we ponder this, we should immediately note the importance of what we take in. What are we exposing ourselves to? The lies of this world are often subtle, changing the mindset little by little. It is imperative, especially in these evil times, that we prioritize and pull close to God’s Word so that He may give us the truth, which leads to life.

You may say well people that are striving and gaining seem to be living the life! They have everything they desire, what more is there? Consider these truths:

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
– John 10:10

“And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me: and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.”
– Luke 4:6-7

Lastly,

“This book of the law shalt not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt mediate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that it written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
– Joshua 1:8

There is more than one type of success.

The world offers a way and God offers a way. The world’s way of success will be accessed by the flesh, while God’s way of success will be accessed by faith. How can we determine that we have God’s success?

“The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”
– Proverbs 10:22

I encourage you to examine your heart today to ensure that you aren’t harboring issues that are feeding discontentment, which will inevitably lead to sin. Keep in mind that anything that is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23). Also, when we know the right thing to do, yet don’t do it, we sin (James 4:17). God’s plan for our lives is good (Jeremiah 29:11). He knows why He created us and He thinks precious thoughts toward us (Psalm 139).

We must learn contentment so we can experience the unfolding of God’s perfect will in our lives.

Lastly, there is nothing wrong with having desires or requests. The key is in knowing how to handle those desires. We can’t trust ourselves to go out and try to make something happen. We must bring all of our requests to God and trust Him to bless us and guide us. He has no problem taking care of His children. We must simply learn to trust Him, which requires contentment. As we do, we position ourselves to experience His blessing, His way, on His terms- not ours.

God’s way is always best.

Don’t allow discontentment to cause you to forfeit the best in exchange for what you can muster up in your own strength. We have to know that anything we can do in our own strength won’t compare to what God has for us.