Holy discontent is the underlying motivation that fuels achievement for good in the world. It is the reason people choose to charge in and fix a wrong when they see it. It is what motivates rational human beings to willingly, even joyfully, sign up for high-challenge, high-risk, high-stakes endeavors and not receive a penny in return. It is the fuel that feeds people like Martin Luther King and Mother Theresa and many others who fight injustice.

Holy discontent is what moves us out of our comfortable existence and propels us into difficult circumstances to help to fix an injustice that we just can’t stand to see anymore. We have what Hybels calls a Popeye moment. You may remember Popeye the Sailor’s famous quotation, “That’s all I can stands, and I can’t stands no more!” uttered right before he downed a can of spinach and charged in to the fight.

Moses met with holy discontent as a Hebrew living in the pharaoh’s palace. He couldn’t stand the way his people were treated and he was determined to do something about it.
Bill Hybels met with his holy discontent as a teen attending a church with ill-planned church services and boring, uninspired preaching -the kind that kills the spark of spiritual interest in the seeker. His discontent resulted in the establishment of a church designed for un-churched people, Willow Creek Community Church. Starting out with an attendance of about 125 people, it grew to 2000 within three years. Hybels has been senior pastor there for the past 30 years.

Mr. Hybels uses personal illustrations and humor to show us how to find and nurture our own holy discontent. He encourages us to find out what we can’t stand and then to channel that energy into helping to fix the wrong. I read Holy Discontent with friends, as part of a discussion group. It is a short, easy to read book but each chapter gave us plenty to talk about at each meeting. We were encouraged to realize that we are all capable of changing our world. We each found ourselves searching our souls for the injustice that wrecked us and that which would fuel our own Popeye moments.

The author, Bill Hybels, is the founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL. He is author of 17 books, includingRediscovering Church, Fit to Be Tied, Too Busy Not to Pray, and Becoming a Contagious Christian. He received a bachelor’s degree in Biblical Studies and an honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Trinity College.