The search for contentment

This week's study is a guest post from Frank, on Luke 10:38-42

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.  She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.  But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”  “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Here, we find our Lord as a guest in the home of Martha and Mary. Martha is evidently disturbed, and complaining. Jesus observes that she is emotionally upset, and mildly rebukes her, "Martha, you are worried and upset about many things."

I would venture to say that many of us are troubled about something that is robbing us of our contentment, peace, and happiness. We are all pursuing life, liberty and happiness, but like a desert mirage, they seem to evade us. The reason is that we are confronted with two unrelenting enemies, worry and fear. These are the mightiest saboteurs of human life, health, and peace, that I know of.

The late president Roosevelt spoke a great truth when he said, "The greatest thing we have to fear, is fear itself." Fear and worry never created a single hope, never cheered a single soul, never crowned a single success.

Fear has torments. It disturbs our mental balance. Fear deranges and paralizes the mind. It disorganizes the will and makes wholesome actions impossible. It distorts our outlook. Many of us become ill because of our fears as they cripple our efficiency.

Place a 12 inch wide board on the ground and you can easily walk across it.  Some can even dance upon it. Put the same plank between two buildings, 100 feet in the air and then try to walk on it. Chances are that you wouldn't. It's the same plank that was on the ground, but now you're afraid, and your efficency is crippled. In Toastmasters, I would go over my speech in private and perform it perfectly. But in front of an audience I would become fearful and nervous, and make mistakes.

The stress and tension in which our generation lives may spring from different causes, but the conditions are not new. Centuries ago, David, the Psalmist, wrote in Psalm 55:4-6

My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me. And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away, and be at rest.

In the spirit of Jesus, fear will turn into courage, despair into hope, and sorrow into joy. There are those who worry over events in the past; others are so fearful of the future that they cannot enjoy the present. Yesterday ended last night; tomorrow has not arrived; live for today.

In order to cut down the crow's damage to the crops, the farmer, knowing the crow's fear, erects a scarecrow, just a crude figure. As the presentment of a man, it seems to us ridiculously inadequate, but it fools the crow. It is the clumsiest kind of a bluff. Scarecrows are absolutely harmless; wouldn't hurt anything, but the crow thinks they would. If the crow and other birds knew how harmless scarecrows really are, they wouldn't be frightened away from corn and other food, lying so easily in reach.

Our worries and fears are our “scarecrows” that frighten us away from the better things of life. There is no power in a scare crow to harm the crows. It is fear on the part of the birds that keep them from the corn. It is our fears and worries that keep us from the corn of peace, contentment, and a richer-fuller life.

We have worried about the temporary and neglected the eternal. We have sought God's gifts but failed to seek Him. We have feared the future, while failing to put our hands in the hand of the One who holds tomorrow.

What can we do to remove ourselves from such a fretful state of mind and find true peace and contentment?

1. Get rid of the scarecrows.
2. Realize how useless and futile worry is.
3. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. (Luke 12:22-29)

We do not have many problems; only one, that is, to maintain a right relationship with God. We must give Christ priority in our lives or else we will be continually in a state of unrest. We cannot hope to live life in all its fullness and face eternity with confidence, unless we give God and His word their proper place in our lives. Christ came that we might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly. 


Put the principles of Christian living as revealed in the Bible, to work in your daily life. Christ is our only hope, but He is a sure hope.