Contentment. What does it mean to be content? Just coming off Black Friday, it’s worth contemplating. According to the December 2025 World Magazine, 31% of Americans who used credit for last Christmas’s gifts are still paying down that bill! Ouch! How many of them participated in Black Friday this year and added more to that bill they haven’t been able to eradicate? We live in a society of perpetual discontent. There is always something better out there that we “need,” something newer and more efficient.
I’ve been wondering, is it possible to be content without a sense of humility? Discontentment says, “I deserve better, I deserve more.” Contentment says “whatever God has given is right. I have enough. God is good. My needs are met,” whether in reference to possessions, gifts or talents, or circumstances.
The story of the incarnation is the greatest example of humility. Jesus, the very Son of God, humbled Himself to become man, took the lowest position among men, and died the lowest, most ignoble death. He modeled perfectly for us what it means to be content in what God has called us to do and be by humbling Himself for the sake of others (us!).
May God help us to humble ourselves, to be content in the calling God has placed on our lives and in the place He has put us. May we give up our ambitions and desires for the sake of others this Christmas.
Thank you for your faithfulness to the Lord in serving with me all these years. May He bless you for blessing me and make us both content in this place in life we find ourselves. Blessed, peaceful Christmas to you.
Gratefully,
Martha Gushee
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