Gratitude and Contentment Are Your Best Financial Tools

What if I told you that you already possess two of the most powerful tools that will get you to financial freedom. They may be a little rusty but they are there.

Deeply seeded within your soul lies gratitude and contentment. Yes, they’re there and everybody has the ability to unlock them. It’s just a matter of choice.

Out of all the financial knowledge I’ve amassed, this immutable truth has been one of the most powerful. It also largely correlates to how successful someone will be with money and stewarding.

So why is it so hard to deploy these tools? Well we’re a forgetful people along with our tendency to believe in lies. We’re prone to forget what we have to be grateful for while hyper-focusing on the things that cause us to be discontent. 

The Lies

The advertising & social media industries have exploded within the last few decades largely due to the innovation in technology and connecting people. Did you know that companies spend hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars each year on ads trying to get you to spend money? 

You see their efforts everywhere including online ads, commercials, mail, email, and product placements just to name a few. We’re now at crossover point of where a majority of the advertising spend will be digital. 

Much of the industry is focused on “inadequacy marketing” which is exactly what it sounds like, making you feel inadequate, or insufficient, in order to trigger a buying decision. “You aren’t pretty enough, just buy this makeup or these clothes and it’ll fix your lack of confidence. Buy this car and you’ll finally have the status symbol you deserve. In order to fit in, you need to have this latest phone or piece of technology.” 

Don’t be fooled by their message of empowerment, they have an ulterior motive. Empowerment leads to freedom, but gimmicks are designed to keep you dependent and coming back for more. 

For example, have you ever noticed how every fashion trend has such a short life before moving onto the next? This is by design (no pun intended). 

This HuffPost article sums it up pretty well, “Once upon a time, there were two fashion seasons: Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter. Fast forward to 2014 and the fashion industry is churning out 52 "micro-seasons" per year. With new trends coming out every week, the goal of fast fashion is for consumers to buy as many garments as possible, as quickly as possible.” The fashion industry has found a way to manipulate consumers, by making you feel out of trend, to fatten their bottom line at your expense.

Social media hasn’t made things much easier either. Within the last decade, social media has been the driving force of connecting people while consequently creating division, disconnection, isolation, and mental health issues. 

It’s difficult to be grateful in a time where all information is readily available. We can instantly see what others are doing, what they have, and where they’re at. Don’t get me started on “influencers” and their barrage of tactics that brainwash many to want better and more for their lives in a self-help kind of way.

We often find ourselves comparing our lives to others and dwelling on the things that we don’t have instead of what we do have. We can even take this to the level of fantasizing about what life would look like if had this or that. 

The marketing and social media industries thrive on our discontent and lack of gratitude even going to the point of facilitating it. They’ve realized where there’s hunger there’s opportunity and it’s become a vicious and endless cycle, not to mention a profitable one. 

Consequently, it means that we throw money at their products & services or spend more time on their platforms in hopes of fixing our problems. We’re chasing our tails with the hopes of catching it one day. Good luck.

The only thing we’re catching is the lie that it will all be better once we get it.

I think it’s extremely hard to be content and grateful in this particular time in history and in our particular culture.

The Truth

To be content is to be satisfied in what we’ve been given, what we have, and whom our identity is in. Lasting satisfaction can only come from Christ. Yes, we’ll get satisfaction from the things of this world but it has always been meant to point us back to Christ, a never-ending well of satisfaction.

If we aren’t constantly coming back to that truth then we’re susceptible to falling victim to things that provide a temporary sense of satisfaction but only prove to dry up over time resulting in a continual pursuit of more.

As Christians, we should be leading the charge on living a life filled with thankfulness and contentment. This should be the light and salt that we bring to our communities and this world as a whole. I get it, it’s hard because we’re broken. We don’t have to be perfect, that’s why Jesus came.

But we need to be consistent and obedient. We should constantly be coming back to the truth that we’ve been bought and set aside as holy. Everyday that reality should radiate and overflow into every aspect of our life, including our personal finances. 

Financially, when we’re content we buy less because we want less, we live below our means, we save more, we give more, and we create more margin in our lives. This gives us the ability to invest in today and tomorrow but more importantly it allows us to be present with our Lord and focus on the things that He would have us to.

I understand that not everyone has the ability to easily or quickly increase their income, but the great thing about contentment is that it often has a direct effect on the expense side, what we spend, of the equation. We can often still create margin in our life by cutting out the excess whenever we start living a more contented lifestyle.

Live It Out

When it comes to living out a grateful and content life it will take time but I encourage you to approach this with the utmost grace and mindfulness. To be mindful is to consciously recognize and be aware of the significance (think Kairos moment) of what you’ve done and are doing.

I’ve heard it put that the act of mindfulness is like “holy noticing”. Not only will it enrich your faith journey but it will enrich your journey as a steward as well. 

A contented heart results in a posture of self-control when it comes to spending. Are there areas that you lack self-control? The only way to get ahead financially is when you have a reign on your spending and you have the ability to say no. This will also pave way to living beneath your means and allowing you to have margin in your life. With spending under control you’ll be able to have the peace and confidence to save for the future while enjoying the present without guilt and anxiety.

You see when we live with a thankful heart we’re also able to live a content life which produces abundant fruit. That’s when it’s really fun.

You are worthy. You are enough for God. And where we fall short, Jesus makes up. Remember this.

I’ll leave you with this verse in Paul’s first epistle to Timothy.

'But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.'

1 Timothy 6:6-8 (ESV)