Today, we're pleased to share with you an audio essay written and read by Melissa Kruger,

entitled Four Misconceptions About Contentment.

Melissa's book is Growing Together, Taking Mentoring Beyond Small Talk and Prayer Requests from Crossway.

Four misconceptions about contentment, Melissa B. Kroger.

Wandering in unbelief.

One of our greatest struggles with contentment is that we often have an incorrect picture

of what it means to be content.

It's helpful to understand what something is not in order to have a more correct understanding

of what it is.

Paul learned contentment, but we can gain a better picture of what that really look like

from what he shared about his life with the churches to whom he wrote.

From Paul's letters, below are four things contentment is not.

One, contentment is not a carefree existence. Contentment isn't having it all together and finding

a life of perfect balance, nor is it an idealic moment spent swinging on a hammock, sipping lemonade,

and reading a book on a cool

fall afternoon while all the world around you falls apart. Paul's description of his time in Asia

probably wouldn't make the Facebook feed. For we do not want you to be ignorant brothers of the

affliction we experienced in Asia, for we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength

that we despaired of life itself. 2 Corinthians 1.8. Burdened, afflicted, despairing. These descriptions

are not in opposition to a contented soul. In this world, we won't be free of hardships. Contentment trusts God while

walking through the heart. Joy and sorrow can walk side by side and not be in opposition to one

another. Two, contentment is not the absence of relational conflicts and anguish of heart.

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