My Discontentment and Control Issues
Is there one area in your life that you constantly struggle with that is allowing the enemy to get into your life and throw your relationship with God off? Read the example below from Worthy Devotions website, it is a great analogy on how you can have every area of your spiritual life secured and on track except one and the damage it can do.
The Great Wall of China is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It stretches over 4,000 miles and was built to protect China from the barbaric hordes to the north. The designers of the wall made it so high that it could not be scaled, so thick that it could not be penetrated, and so long that no one could go around it.
Yet, during the first hundred years of the wall’s existence China was successfully invaded three times, without the wall having been climbed or breached. So how, you ask, did the invaders raid China? Well, the problem wasn’t the wall – it was the gatekeepers! In each of these invasions the barbarians simply bribed the gatekeepers who opened the gates, so the enemies just walked right through.
The protection of the Great Wall of China was only as secure as its gatekeepers. What a lesson, since, don’t we all also have “gates to keep”…our eyes, and our ears, and our mouth? No matter how strong we may feel, we can never forget that these points of entry will be seen by our enemies and there will be attempts to bribe or seduce us so he (Satan) can break through.
I know for me one area that I struggle with is discontentment. Discontentment, wrapped within the proper perspective, is one thing God uses to move us in a new, healthy direction. However, discontentment becomes unhealthy when my desire to acquire becomes the focus of my life. I would not say my discontentment is with possessions, but with my work situations and the need to be in control. My need to be in charge or in control begins to possess me and my discontentment becomes a short leash that controls me and actually holds me back from experiencing the life God created me to enjoy.
I have also learned that I have the kind of personality that demands to be in control. Two forces driving me are fear and pride. First, I am afraid if I don’t control every situation I would lose control of my life. I am beginning to realize now that my fear-based addiction to control has been corrosive to my career and some relationships. My problem with pride-based control was based on wanting to maintain a good public image of a successful businessman with a strong foundation. I couldn’t let anyone know I had flaws or lacked competence in any area.
The apostle Paul, who was blessed with great privileges, but also beaten and stripped of everything he had, taught that true contentment must be learned: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4:12 NIV).
Maybe you do not struggle with discontentment, but what entry point(s) are you allowing the enemy to get into your life?
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