See if any of this feels familiar: before the shine wears off your current phone, a new one comes out and you wonder if you need it. From the end of a long line at the smorgasbord, you look at the smoked salmon and fret that it is going fast. Your 38-inch flat screen TV has been great, but it seems unworkably small as you wander the Costco aisle. Your neighbour parks their new car in their driveway, and suddenly, your car looks like it will break down at any moment. Often, what we have is fine until we see what others have got.

We live under a constant deluge of commercials telling us that bigger is better, newer is best and more will make us happy. The ads whisper to a craving already in our heads and hearts – the desire to obtain and possess. Our desires are normal, but sin distorts them. Hunger is normal, but gluttony is a distortion. It is normal to acquire the necessities of living, but greed is an inordinate desire. It lies to us. It promises fulfillment, success and security but delivers an exhausting treadmill that takes us nowhere.

Paul commands Timothy to warn everyone who runs after wealth that the chase is a trap. Instead, Timothy is to teach godly contentment with the measure of possessions seemingly low. “If we have food and clothing, with these we will be content” (1 Tim. 6:8, ESV). If we have the essentials, we have enough. Enough to say “Thank you” for.

But thanksgiving without contentment is not real gratitude. It nods toward heaven but keeps looking for something better. “If I get the promotion or move into a bigger place, then I will be satisfied.” And the treadmill continues. There is no end to greed. Only contentment will break the quest for more.

Paul says that being content is something he learned (Phil. 4:11). The lesson of contentment is learned through hardship. It is taught through loss and pain. It shows up after we’ve been deprived or disappointed. Our values and priorities surface when the mirage we’ve been chasing disappears. One of the greatest graces of God is to not receive what we asked for. It is God’s love which takes from us the things that cannot satisfy. This schooling may seem harsh, but the lesson is priceless. “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).

True gratitude—especially in a season filled with gifts, lists, and expectations—is a surrender into the care and provision of God. It is an admission that what God has granted is enough. Gratitude becomes contentment, being fulfilled and satisfied. The contented heart never wants for anything.