Contentment and Circumstances

Chuckle: "When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, think of Algebra." --Will Rogers

Quote: "The best of blessings, a contented mind." --Horace, Epistles

"I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living (being content) in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. . . . And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:12,19 NLT).

It is our natural tendency to depend on life's circumstances to determine our degree of happiness and contentment. Therefore, we focus our efforts on trying to control our circumstances. It's sometimes difficult for us to understand that the true contentment God wants for us wells up from within us, and is not dependent upon life's circumstances.

The secret to real contentment is learning to see the world from God's point of view. We learn to do this when we begin to focus our attention and effort on doing what God wants us to do rather than on what we would like to have -- doing versus having. Paul did not waste his time in pursuit of wealth and possessions, but focused his energy on doing what God called him to do. His priority was his relationship with his Lord.

If we depend upon what we have to bring us contentment, we will have missed out on experiencing the kind of contentment we see in Paul. True, when we are blessed with plenty, we may experience self- satisfaction from what we have earned by our skills and perseverance. But such selfish feelings can't compare with the serenity and contentment God wants to give us by his presence within us and by our trusting his promises.

Paul was grateful for everything God had given him, whether little or much. Like Paul, we should detach ourselves from the least important and nonessential and focus on the eternal. In God's grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter how much of this world's "stuff" we accumulate. What matters are the treasures we have laid up in heaven. See Matthew 6:19-21.

In summary, our yearning for physical comforts and possessions is our effort to fill an empty place in our hearts that only God can fill. God wants us to trust him and rejoice in his presence rather than depending upon our circumstances to bring us contentment. Believing his promises to meet our needs brings indescribable contentment and peace.

"A Puritan sat down to his meal and found that he had only a little bread and some water. His response was to exclaim, 'What? All this and Jesus Christ, too!' Contentment is found when we have the correct perspective on life."

Love, Jerry & Dotse