A couple years ago I was in a business training session and some of the speakers, who were a married couple, told this story. They were driving around and the husband turned to the wife and said, “You know, I think I’m really content with where our life is at, we have a good life” She turned to him and was shocked, she proceeded to tell us how contentment is the enemy of progress. I’m sure you’ve heard that phrase. But I want to challenge it.

The heart of the idea is really stagnation that is the problem, not contentment. Contentment is being satisfied with what you have, not being jealous or greedy or continually having a desire for more. Because, in my mind contentment is good, it’s a virtue, it’s Biblical.

“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians‬ ‭4‬:‭11‬-‭13‬

Contentment is a state of mind, not a direction. Paul says in this chapter that it doesn’t matter what he does or what happens to him, how successful he is or poor he is, but that he can do anything through the strength of Christ. That doesn’t mean you can’t move forward. That simply means you are not desiring things that are not yours yet. Instead you are following step in step with God and where he leads you.

Personally I have been struggling with contentment for several reasons, the biggest two are finances and relationships. But what I’ve learned is that even though I desire more, it doesn’t change where God has currently placed me. But even though I am in the spot God has put me in currently, it doesn’t mean I can’t still take action. Because what if complacency is the problem, not contentment?

You can absolutely be content while not being complacent. Complacent means unwilling to move forward. So when people say contentment is the enemy of progress I really don’t think they mean contentment. I think complacency is the enemy of progress. What does scripture say about complacency?

‘For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; ‘ Proverbs 1:32

‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.’ Revelation 3:15-16

Being complacent and not active in your desire to grow and change is a pretty serious deal. The passage in Revelation is talking about a complacent church. God detests people who claim to be a Christian, which requires action, yet sit around and do nothing. Not to mention the fact that God grants us all gifts and talents to use for His Glory and doing nothing with it is a waste.

‘ “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ‘ Matthew 25:14-30

These are some harsh words for complacent people. But notice the difference, those who were given more earned more, not out of jealousy or selfish ambition, but out of their desire to please their master. They weren’t discontent with the talents they’d been given but rather smart and calculating. They knew that the best way to honor their master was to invest in what he had already given them. Whereas the last servant was afraid to steward what the Master had given, and it earned him to be cast out into the darkness. It begs the question, are we complacent out of fear of being greedy or jealous?

You see if you are a Christian, this life is not your own but rather a gift given to you by your maker. There is no better way to honor the maker than to take the talents He has given you and invest in them to exponentially grow your results.

‘Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, ‘ Colossians 3:23

‘So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. ‘ 1 Corinthians 10:31

‘I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ‘ Galatians 2:20

We can’t fully live this life to the Glory of God if we spend it complacent, going through the motions, or just getting by or even afraid of change. We have to put effort and passion into everything we do. You can’t become comfortable with not doing anything. It is not wrong to desire the life God has designed for you and to grow into the person He wants you to be. It is however a sin to covet and become jealous of others because they have things that you want, or to be greedy when you do gain things of materialistic value.

I hope you can see past the lies that the enemy tries to feed us. His goal is to steal, kill and destroy, and what better way to do that than get you to be unsatisfied with your life and constantly chasing selfish ambitions or jealous motives? It only serves to cause you to become empty and void of meaning. Because someone always has it better than you, The grass is always greener on the other side. While desiring a beautiful green yard is not bad, it’s the motive for having the yard that is the problem.

‘“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” ‘ Exodus 20:17

Covetousness is in the list of top 10 sins to avoid, so I think it’s pretty important to pay attention to. Out of the 10 most basic moral obligations, wouldn’t it make sense that we ought to heed the instruction? If God meant for contentment to be a sin, there would have been somewhere in scripture that would mention it, but instead it harps on complacency and jealousy.

I hope you are getting the picture of the difference between complacency and contentment. It’s a mindset shift not a directional change. Once you find contentment with the circumstances God has you in, it gives you the freedom to fight for the dreams he has given you.

Imagine it like this, say you are a man with a wife and three kids, a picket fence around your nice yard, a nice job, and a dog. But you have this desire for having more stuff, you want a bigger house, a nicer car, another dog, but you don’t ever do anything to go work for it, instead you let the bitterness fester inside of you until you resent the life you do have because it’s not the life you want. Or on the flip side you work yourself to the bone chasing the dollar but never stop to appreciate what you already have, most of the time, you will lose the life you currently have.

But if you were to embrace contentment with what you have, that doesn’t mean you can’t still work for more, it means you appreciate what you have and use it as fuel to earn what you do work for. Let’s look at it from a spiritual perspective. Let’s say that nice house is instead a leadership position. You have one of two choices, you can work tirelessly for the next best thing and never sew into your current congregation, or you gain, grow, and sew into the position that you already have so that when the bigger opportunity comes, you will be the person who can fill those shoes.

To paraphrase, contentment without progress does not equal complacency. And complacency without progress does not equal contentment. Likewise contentment with progress does not equal selfish ambition. But discontentment with progress can. You see our pursuit of the Kingdom should not be out of selfish merit or ambition but rather out of God’s mercy and blessing. We can never do enough or be enough for Heaven. But Christ can. Out of a result of our salvation, we ought to desire to do good work for Christ.

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” ‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭22‬-‭25‬

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭8‬

Let that good work be what spurs you on to become the person God created you to be.