We finished our Philippians study this week.  It was an insightful ten weeks looking through a letter that encouraged us to be bold in multiple areas of our lives.  In the final section of Scripture, Paul spoke of being content in every facet of life.  Whether in plenty or in want, whether in need or in abundance, Paul found happiness in the Lord.  Discontentment is problematic when it comes to the human soul, but I believe there is one place that discontentment is critically important.  Critically, may be an understatement.  Maybe indispensable is a better word for the necessity of discontentment in this area.

Let me quote Andy Stanley to get this discussion going.  "Visions are born in the soul of a man or woman who is consumed with the tension between what is and what could be. . . Over time that dissatisfaction matures into a clear picture of what could be. . . Anyone with a vision will tell you this is not merely something that could be done rather it is something that should be done."  Humanity has seen this principle over and over again.  The cotton gin would have never been made if there wasn't a dissatisfaction with the tediousness of picking cotton.  A bowl was created in ancient China and Greece because of the shortcomings of a plates.  This principle is true inside the church also.  The Reformation most centrally began because the Word of God was not written in common vernacular for people to identify the truth of Scripture themselves.  The modern missionary movement took root because Christians took seriously the Great Commission and the need to take the gospel to the world.

While discontentment can be dangerous for the individual soul, God uses our discontentment to bring about vision.  What are you discontent with in what you see in the church?  The lostness of our generation?  The lack of biblical literacy in the American church?  The hypocracy within christian culture?  I am not calling you to complain about any of these things, but I am calling you to do something about it!  I believe that God uses discontentment in leadership to bring about visions for progress. 

What holy discontentment is God stirring in your heart to bring glory to him and to draw his people to him in repentance?

Leave a Reply