Episode 789 Contentment Versus Victimhood
[00:00:00] Thanks for joining me on episode 789 of the inspired stewardship podcast. Welcome to episode 699 of the inspired stewardship podcast.
[00:00:19] this is a hard one. And it's one I've been struggling with, especially when things are going on around us, that I just can't understand and really am having stroke struggles dealing with. And I don't know if maybe you're feeling some of that on your heart as well. This isn't a political statement. It isn't about who's right.
[00:00:38] And who's wrong. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, [00:01:00] invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.
[00:01:14] and today's episode about developing your influence through stewarding your talent. I talk with you a little bit about what contentment really is. I also share a little bit about what I call victim thinking. And I also talk with you about why contentment is actually an antidote for victim hood. You've heard me talk about developing your talent and what are the best ways to do that is through books.
[00:01:39] But if you're like most people today, it's hard to find the time to read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible. Go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up. And you can get a 30 day free trial. There's over 180,000 titles to choose from, [00:02:00] and you can pick one and listen your way to developing your talents via audible.
[00:02:06] That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books the same way you're listening to this podcast. No contentment is one of those concepts that I've talked about. Several times on the podcast. And one of the reasons is because I think it is a real strong part of truly understanding the idea of stewardship.
[00:02:33]If stewardship is recognizing that nothing that we have is ours, that we don't own any of it. We're just gifted with it for a while to take care of it and to grow it and to use it in the ways that God calls us to do. Then contentment is part of that because contentment is recognizing that nothing that you have.
[00:02:56] You deserve that nothing that you have is [00:03:00] really yours, that it's all things that you're blessed with. It's things that come from outside of you. The truth is I think a lot of times people will think of anything that's good as they've earned it, they made it. I've made it happen. I'm a self-made man or a self-made woman.
[00:03:17] This idea that we all get there alone. On the backs of our own strength. It's a uniquely American concept. Not uniquely, but it is an American concept. It's one that, that comes and you see it strongly in the Western culture. But I would say that it's also. An enemy against really being content.
[00:03:40] You can be driven to improve, driven, to get more driven, to help more driven, to serve more driven, to achieve more and still be content. But it's also very easy to let that drive become the thing that you serve. Instead of [00:04:00] recognizing that you serve God, serve others, serve yourself last, you instead begin to req, begin to append that and serve yourself first.
[00:04:09] You begin to say that I deserve it. I earned it. I made it happen as opposed to excluding that and recognizing that as the blessings that you were given. And what's interesting is often out of that discontent. Can become victim hood. Now don't get me wrong. When I talk about victim hood here, I am not saying that there are not.
[00:04:36] Things that are in just in the world. I'm not saying that we should not stand up and fight against injustice. And I'm not saying that we shouldn't sympathize and set with people and weep and share their grief. Whenever something bad has happened to them, it is true that bad events happen to us. It is true.
[00:04:57] That events that are outside of our control happened to [00:05:00] us. And it is true that when that happens, it hurts. It is a painful, painful experience. It's also true that we have a tendency to try to compare our suffering to others. And the truth is you can't compare it. If you've been through a particular event and someone else has been through another event, oftentimes you get into this almost.
[00:05:26] Competitive comparison of suffering. Well, that's happened to you. Well, listen to what happened to me, you begin to step up the level of suffering and say that your suffering is worse than anyone else's. Now I will tell you, when I look at suffering, when I see what other people have gone through, oftentimes I feel to myself that is so much worse than anything I have gone through.
[00:05:53] That's different than me looking at other people's suffering and saying, no, what I have gone through is worse than them. [00:06:00] Honestly, I feel that there are things that I've gone through that were rough, but at the end of the day, I also know that many people have gone through things that are all, all way too much rougher.
[00:06:12] I still see things that happen in the world. And I cry out in my heart for justice. I look at it and I try to stand up against it because. Oftentimes, I see people being hurt, being abused, being harmed. And I think as Christians, we should stand up and fight against those things. But instead, oftentimes what happens is when we suffer, we begin to adopt this noble attitude of victimhood.
[00:06:41] Instead of, out of our suffering coming growth and out of our suffering coming righteous, anger, and out of our suffering coming, trying to help others and ourselves in our, in that situation to get better comes almost this feeling of our suffering. Is ours. Our suffering is [00:07:00] something that we own instead of being content with the blessings that we have.
[00:07:04] We become content in the suffering that we have. We seek out others, other articles, other news, other people in this group who have also suffered like we do. And we band together with them and begin to, instead of leaning on each other and supporting each other through our grief. We instead become almost satisfied with the fact that we have a group with which we commonly suffer.
[00:07:32] We actually become angry at the world and at others because of our suffering, we began to stand up and say that our suffering is worse than anyone else's we deserve better. And the truth is you don't deserve anything. Instead, what comes to you, comes to you out of grace and it's out of that grace, that you are blessed with things.
[00:07:57] It's a really hard concept because [00:08:00] as much as I stand out and see things that are injustice in the world, and I cry out against them. I also do not enjoy it when people or myself wears the badge of victimhood. And let me tell you honestly, and truly I have done this over and over again throughout my life.
[00:08:22] And every time I do the only antidote for it is to, again, turn back my eyes and recognize the blessings that I have been given and begin to again, feel that heart of contentment. That by grace, I am actually able to continue to live, to continue to breathe, continue to serve others. And it's because sometimes of my brokenness and my suffering, that I'm able to reach someone that maybe wouldn't have heard the message any other way.
[00:08:56] And so instead of wearing the suffering as a [00:09:00] badge of nobility, I recognize that it is one more thing that has happened and I've gone through and I can not have regrets and still feel content even while recognizing the harm and the pain and striving and working against it. Just like being driven is not the opposite of contentment.
[00:09:20] Being a victim often is the opposite of contentment. And instead recognizing and sitting with people and helping them through that pain and fighting against it ever happening again, that contentment that is an actual action that we can do. And we can take on without becoming victims. This is a hard one.
[00:09:46] And it's one I've been struggling with, especially when things are going on around us, that I just can't understand and really am having stroke struggles dealing with. And I don't know if maybe you're feeling some of that on your heart as [00:10:00] well. This isn't a political statement. It isn't about who's right.
[00:10:03] And who's wrong. It's about the fact that as human beings, we are all blessed by God and we need to come together in a way that serves and glorifies him. Thanks for listening.
[00:10:22] thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you liked this episode on the stewardship of talent, you can go over to inspired stewardship.com/talent and sign up for our five week series on the stewardship of talent.
[00:10:52] Or if you're in the U S you can text four, four, two, two, two talent tips. [00:11:00] That's talent tips to four four, two, two, two, and get those tips until next time. Invest your time, your talent and your treasures, develop your influence and impact the world. .