Written by Jared Kennedy, managing editor, books and curriculum for The Gospel Coalition
Even in ministry, we can sometimes fall into the trap of seeking contentment by trying to change our circumstances. We might think, I’ll just feel better when I’m done onboarding the new associate pastor or when I’m ahead on my sermon or when that new discipleship initiative is launched or, well, you can fill in the blank.
But lasting joy isn’t circumstantial. It comes instead from shifting our gaze. That’s what author and women’s ministry director, Jen Oshman, argues in her new book with TGC. Oshman appeals C. S. Lewis’s reasoning in Mere Christianity. Lewis said one reason for our frustration with finding happiness and contentment is that we “fix our minds on this world.” He wrote,
Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise.
Our marriages, careers, and summer vacations do indeed offer temporary happiness, but they inevitably leave us wanting more. Lewis finally concluded, “Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.”
As Oshman writes, “To aim directly for [circumstantial] happiness is to miss it altogether. It’s to endlessly attempt to grasp the fuzz that keeps slipping away. It’s to expect lasting, internal satisfaction from passing, external circumstances.” Yet when we look beyond ourselves and aim higher and farther than what this earth has to offer, we can find real, genuine, and lasting contentment.
When we look up to God and his glory, we can find contentment. Even amid the most wearying days of ministry, we can say with David: “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places” (Psalm 16:5–6).
—Jared
P.S. To celebrate the release of Oshman’s book, Why Is It So Hard to Be Happy?, we’re offering the entire TGC Hard Questions series bundle at 45 percent off through July 11.
