The Never-Ending Goalpost

I heard a quote recently that said, “contentment isn’t when you have enough, it’s when you what you have is enough.” There’s a key difference in that, because many of us claim we’re achieving contentment by pursuing something that we believe will make us complete. If we make it one more step in the right direction, we’ll be content.

This operates from an “almost there” mentality, believing that if we go just a little further, we’ll be happy. But we all intuitively know that a lifelong process of thinking like this won’t get us anywhere. We will move the goalpost over and over, ending up with nothing but a heart that feels like we didn’t quite do enough. It’s a recipe for disaster, and yet we all do it. I’m certainly guilty of this mindset, always aspiring to new goals thinking that the next one will make things better. And while it’s healthy to look inwardly, the solution is not to remove goals.

The scriptures encourage us that contentment is a gift: “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” Whether it is reaching for more possessions or more goals, they are nothing in light of eternity. Growing a content heart replaces our anxious striving with godliness. If we stop moving the goalpost and accept where God has us and what he’s done for us, we step away from a place of lacking and into a place he’s designed for us: contentment.  

*Reference from 1 Timothy 6:6-7