Alma is worrying about sinning but his desire is a righteous one. How can we sin in our righteous desires? The word “sin” in this context is a pretty strong one. Alma’s point is that he has not been sufficiently content with all the blessings the Lord has given to him. He still wanted more. He may have imagined himself being foreordained to fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth (Rev 14:6). For someone as righteous as Alma, maybe his lack of spiritual contentment constitutes a sin, but the rest of us usually have more concerning sins to contend with. Nevertheless, contentment is a quality of godliness. Paul writes, godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Tim 6:6), for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am…to be content (Phil 4:11).
Neal A. Maxwell
“True spirituality helps us to achieve balance between being too content with our present self and the equally dangerous human tendency we might have of wishing for more enlarged and impactful roles. Alma said, ’But behold…I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.’ However, note the often ignored, but tutoring, verse that follows: ’Now, seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called?’ (Alma 29:3,6) To develop that kind of justifiable contentment to better use our existing opportunities—is obviously one of our challenges, particularly so when we seem to be in a ‘flat’ period of life. We may feel underused, underwhelmed, and underappreciated even though we are ignoring unused opportunities for service all about us.” (Notwithstanding My Weakness, pp. 115-6)
Neal A. Maxwell
"…we serve as each other‘s clinical material in the particular sample of humanity constituting ’what is allotted unto [us].’ The sample may shrink or swell, but most important, is what we are and what we do within those varied allocations and in the particular ’work to which [we] have been called’ (Alma 29:6).
“Thus ‘the holy present’ contains the allotted acres for our disciplehip. We need not be situated in prime time with prime visibility in order to work out our own salvation!” (Conference Report, Apr. 2000, p. 73)