Trust in God in a Discontented Age
Erik Raymond

I was interested to read this book because the title caught my eye. I was been interested in how people approach contentment, especially had to do was keep text in the Bible about contentment. It is one of the perspectives of Christian living that we don’t master very well.

The author opens by defining contentment in the first part of his book. Chapter 1 talks about how to understand what contentment is, because if we don’t understand what it is, how can we be expected to be content? In chapter 2, he talks about God having this quality of contentment within Himself. This is why He expects contentment from us, because He is content.

The second part of the book is on the practical approach to learning contentment, for it is something that can be learned. Chapter 3 talks about getting better than we deserve. Often times be sent we deserve more when we don’t. If you approach life as the grace of God upon you, it is easier to learn contentment.

In chapter 4, Raymond connects contentment to godliness. The understanding of godliness is great gain shows how we can be content. When we make more of God than what we want out of life, we can meet content. This keeps us from the love of money and most of other fleshly desires that will keep us from contentment.

Chapter 5 teaches us to look through the shiny wrappers people present to us to make us discontent. They make things look better than they are. When they make us think things are better than they are, it whets our appetite to have more than we already do. It opens us up to materialism. He makes us wonder what we do not have. The background for this insatiable desire is sin. He talks about how Satan uses these tactics today.

In chapter 6, the author challenges us to just say no to the desires of our flesh and to the things that draw us away from contentment. God supplies everything we need. When we cannot say no to what we want, we deny that God is our Provider. He talks about how self-esteem and the soft culture have blinded us to our selfishness. We find it impossible to deny ourselves. He helps the reader to learn how to deny themselves.

Chapter 7 contentment passage where God says to “Be still and know that I am God.” Realizing God’s character and nature, who He is for us, and who He is to us, will help us to be content in Him. God provides all our needs. He takes care of us. He knows what’s best for us. We need to see the issue of discontentment as not realizing who God is and how He cares for us.

In chapter 8, Raymond discusses how we can be a faithful bride to Christ by recognizing His provision for us and becoming content. When we live a content might, it shows our love for Jesus. He shares other strategies for how to live a content filled life. In the final chapter, the author reminds us that we are not yet home. Like children on a trip, we keep asking if we are home yet, but we are not there. We need to be content in our lives here because our inheritance is not yet complete. When we focus on our inheritance in heaven, we must show that contentment by how we live here. I really enjoyed reading this book. It presents a balanced and biblical approach to living a life of contentment. I did feel the book was a long read, but it was good to follow the author through the arguments about contentment and live in this life to glorify Christ. I recommend it to anyone who struggles with contentment, or is in the process of learning contentment and gets lost in the weeds of life. The author will keep you put in contentment as the target of your life.