18 Though while they live they count themselves blessed —
and people praise you when you prosper — Psalm 49:18

In general, people don’t realize that the afterlife awaits them after death. At the very least they don’t think about it, and many just do not care.

In the past we heard commercials like:

Go for the gusto
Have it your way
If it feels good do it
It doesn’t get any better than this
You deserve a break today

Besides being memorable (albeit very old) slogans, they had a common theme: it’s about you and this life. In fact most of the commercials you’ll see and the ads you read is geared to making you dissatisfied with your current existence in exchange for something better (namely their product or service). That happens in most societies and is a byproduct of a free market.

Buying into the idea of being dissatisfied is something entirely different (we say we’re not affected or influenced by commercials or ads but in all likelihood, we succumb to the subtleties of the advertising craft).

One of the brilliant ways they do it is by asking this question: “are you 100% satisfied with your marriage? your kids? your job? your health?” or any number of things. The truth is, we do want to improve those things so we’re ready to listen further. But in that question, they create a subtle dissatisfaction that may or may not have already been there.

Our contentment is to be in Christ. We can improve some areas of our life, but ultimately if our contentment is not in Christ, we’re in trouble because we then rush to other things to fill that void.