There is an epidemic of discontent taking place in the world today.  People are striving to have more and do more and be more.  Yet, when reality falls short, spirits are crushed and hearts are heavy.  Discontent, however, is not a product of failing to obtain something for which we have strived.  We become enslaved to discontentment because we have been striving for the wrong thing all along.

We have God-given tasks to do.

I have seen the task that God has given people to keep them occupied.  – Ecclesiastes 3:10 HCSB

They have little to do with a corner office, a home on the lake, or the number of followers we accumulate on Twitter.  Granted, those things may come our way, but they are not the goal.  When notoriety and praise become our goal, discontent is waiting just around the bend.  Fame is fleeting and leaves the pursuer empty and longing for more.

So, we have tasks to do.

When we fail to do them and, instead, strive for earthly treasures…discontentment arrives.

But God has given us more than tasks to keep us occupied.

He has also put eternity in their hearts… – Ecclesiastes 3:11 HCSB

There should be a restlessness in the heart of every believer.  There should be a longing that, on this side of eternity, remains unfulfilled.  C.S. Lewis said it this way, If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

Here is the tension in the Christian life.  We must be content, but never comfortable.  This world should never feel like home.  There should be a longing in our hearts and an anxiousness in our spirit as we anticipate Christ’s return.

God is so gracious to place in our hearts a longing for home, so that we are never satisfied with this temporary residence.

Don’t be discontent.  Be unsatisfied.

• We are discontent because we are striving for the wrong things.  We need to be about the business of our God-given tasks.
• We must never be satisfied with earth when God has put eternity in our hearts.