Contentment

"... for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know both how to have little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content, whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." [Phil 4:11-13]

We live in a very discontented society. People are not content in their marriages and go looking for love in all the wrong places. People are not content with what they own so they go deeper into debt trying to satisfy an inner yearning nothing on this earth can satisfy. The child, after Christmas or a birthday, begins making plans for what they want next. Regardless of how much money we make there is always the desire to make a little more.

Reading Paul this morning is a great reminder that our contentment is found in Christ and nowhere else. So if you wake up today with chronic disease, you will never find contentment in the way you feel but you can find contentment in Christ who helps you endure. He provides a joy that goes much deeper than our circumstances. If you wake up this morning coping with grief from the death of a spouse or loved one, you will never find contentment in the days ahead in your loneliness. Christ is a companion who never leaves us or forsakes us especially in the tough times. If you wake up this morning still mourning a failed a marriage, you will never find contentment with a broken heart. You can find peace and hope only in the one who heals and mends broken hearts. Should you awake to financial woes, you will never be content as long as you focus on your needs. Turn your gaze to the One who promises to meet those needs.

If you and I could learn to be content in whatever circumstances we are facing at the moment how much easier life would be. Can we really learn to be satisfied in abundance as well as poverty? Is it really possible to be contented when our bellies growl with hunger pangs as well as to be contented when we feast sumptuously? Can we maintain the same faith, the same joy and the same contentedness when we have little as well as when we have a lot?

Paul wrote these verses in prison. You and I endure the private prisons of our own thoughts and attitudes. What we think and dwell on soon begins to affect our attitude, faith, joy, and hope. For Paul the focus was Christ. He trusted Christ to help him endure whatever trial came his way. He trusted Christ for the strength to get through the hard days.

I recall the three months I lived in the RV after moving back to Paradise. At times the walls seemed to close in. Yet on the nights it rained I thanked God for a shelter from the rain. On the days when the temperatures soared to one hundred seven degrees I contented myself in the cool refuge of that space. In the first days I contented myself on meals of sandwiches and chips. There were days and nights when it all got the best of me and those were the days when I chose to dwell on my circumstances rather than the goodness of God.

This morning I no longer live in the RV. Brenda, the boys and I now dwell in a small rent house. I have plenty of reason to be content. We are all under one roof. For three months while I lived in the RV the rest of the family lived in a house of a friend. The meals are much more elaborate than sandwiches and chips now. I have my own chair and can cook in my own kitchen. I sleep in my own bed next to the love of my life. God is continually teaching us to be content in the circumstances we are in.

At times this has been a painful lesson to learn. One thing I know for sure. When I keep my attention on seeking God the contentment follows. When I choose to focus on what I don't like about my circumstances I can lose hope, joy, and sink into despair.

Living in prison could not have been Paul's chief ambition. I think He just wanted to serve God and obey Him. Doing so meant the loss of freedom, the physical torture, and the constant battle of the mind. Paul learned the secret of contentment and found it to be trusting Christ for strength to endure every day. Some days for Paul, just like us, were better than others. There were days when he preached and saw multitudes turn to Christ. There were other days when he was arrested and beaten without mercy. The same Christ helped him to not only endure both sets of days but to do so with a joy and contentment that is rare today.

I don't know what you are up against today. I just know Jesus Christ makes His strength available to those who need it. He can empower us to experience genuine contentment and peace no matter what we are facing. We all need that.