I think just sitting down again having a plan, trying to think it through, rather than just going on Black Friday with a credit card with a, you know, a big limit and then just, you know, thinking about it later, you know, it's February 10th and you're like, oh man, what did I do?

You know, to kind of go in with a plan. I think that's stewardship too, right? Stewardship of our money and our responsibility and our time and I do you know to kind of go in with the plan I think that's stewardship too right

stewardship of our money and our responsibility and our time and our own hearts and it's just a

good opportunity to try to sit down on the front end think it through plan effectively if you're

married talk to your spouse work it out pray ask the Lord for wisdom welcome to the cross podcast, a show where we sit down with authors each week for

thoughtful interviews about the Bible, theology, church history, and the Christian life.

I'm Matt Telly, and today I'm talking with Eric Raymond.

Eric serves as the senior pastor of Redeemer Fellowship Church in Watertown, Massachusetts.

He's also a frequent contributor

to many websites, including the Gospel Coalition, and is the author of Chasing Contentment,

trusting God in a discontented age from Crossway. Today, Eric and I discuss what it looks like

to cultivate a spirit of contentment in a world that often seems dead set on helping us do the opposite.

He explains what's unique about a distinctly Christian approach to contentment,

highlights the connection between contentment and gratitude,

and offer some practical advice for navigating the consumerism of the holiday season that's just around the corner.

Let's get started.

Well, Eric, thank you so much for joining me today on the Crossway podcast.

Yeah, that's great to be with you.

So we're coming up on Thanksgiving in a few days, and it seems to me that contentment

and gratitude are too closely related concepts.

So I just wonder if you could start us off by defining, how do you define each of those two

words and how do you see them relating to one another? Yeah, good question. So contentment

...