The Bible tells us to be content in all things, right? But when you read the Bible, does it seem to you as if most of the great heroes of the faith wander around continually satisfied with everything as if Pollyanna really were the noblest of saints? Jesus is regularly furious with the religious leaders of His day. Paul isn’t shy at expressing his contempt for those who try to jeopardize what he’s done in preaching. And David, a man who is said to be after God’s own heart, expresses such depths of angst in the Psalms that it would be downright idiotic to call him satisfied, at least at those times. So are there times or circumstances in which it is acceptable to be dissatisfied? Are there objects of frustration that even obligate us to be dissatisfied with them? And if so, how are we as Christians to distinguish either the targets of our dissatisfaction or the expressive form of our reactions to those irritants from those of the people we all were before becoming Christian? In other words, if dissatisfaction per se isn’t the issue, how does Christian dissatisfaction differ from the non-Christian kind?
3 comments:
I'm not so sure the Bible says to be content in all things. Paul said he had learned to do so, but I can't find a command to do so. On the other hand, I don't think that finding out what the "great heroes of the faith" did is a good method of determining what a "sin" is. (Else we'd have to admit that all sorts of genuine evil is not a sin.)
To be satisfied (with little and with much) is a very good thing to learn, and a full awareness of our position in Christ brings that about. I'm just not sure that classifying "dissatisfaction" as sin is helpful.
(See? I could almost never get in to a call on your show, but I can make a comment here.)
Stan, I LOVE having you comment, despite never having called in. =)
I'm inclined to say that some forms of dissatisfaction are sins (both in object and in form of expression), but that other forms of dissatisfaction are actually virtues, which would entail that being satisfied with some things is itself actually a sin. Complacency at evil is certainly no Christian virtue. But faith in God in the presence of evil certainly is one.
I've always assumed that phrase meant to be content in all 'material' things; such as the house you live in, your car, job, etc.
Not that we should walk past a man being attacked by wolves and say to ourselves: "I'm good."
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