The seed of contentment is planted through trusting God to take care of me when life treats me unfairly. Just consider Paul’s circumstances when he was writing his letter to the Philippian church. He was in jail, probably in Rome: he had no freedom and no idea what would happen to him in the future. He was in prison simply for preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ. He would eventually be put to death for that preaching in Rome. If anyone could complain that life was unfair, it’s Paul.
It’s okay to admit it: Life can be unfair. We may have received a diagnosis with that dreaded “C” word – cancer or facing some form of life challenges. What we thought was going to be the deal of a lifetime could have turned out to be the worst deal we ever made. Our children may have disappointed us. Friends could turn out to be enemies.
When life treats us unfairly, we can choose to become bitter, angry, and depressed, or we can extend our trust in God. Contentment comes from trusting that God will take care of us in every situation, even when life is unfair.
Paul could have turned bitter at life’s unfairness. He was in jail instead of starting churches and spreading the Gospel. But he realized that even in jail he had an opportunity to preach to the prison guards.
God can take our worst difficulties and work them out for good for us and for others. If none of us can escape from an unfair world, then that leaves us with the choice of how we’re going to respond to that reality. What will our attitude be? Unfairness can rob us of our contentment unless we choose to extend our trust in God, even when we can’t make sense of what’s happening. Contentment begins when we realize that we can still trust God even when life isn’t fair.
In Philippians 4:11 Paul wrote, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” Paul knew how to be content in highs and in lows, in abundance and in need, in plenty and in hunger.
Contentment is something Paul learned and it’s something you can learn too. You can practice it. In fact, God wants us to improve at this over the course of our lives, day by day.
Do you see the blessings of contentment in your life? Contentment brings blessings, such as joy in the present and satisfaction in the simple things of life. Contentment brings a settled sense of sufficiency and a peaceful pace that proves “more” is not the focus of your thinking. You have life what a privilege to be alive in this world! Contentment brings joy in the present.
Contentment also builds your capacity to appreciate ordinary pleasures. If you’re content, simple things make you happy. Like a nice walk. Go for a walk today with a member of your family, and hold his or her hand. Talk about what’s important. Enjoy a simple pleasure have a loving conversation, eat a good meal without racing to your next task, savor a nice piece of music. If you can sit quietly, enjoy something simple, and not think ahead to what you will do next, that’s contentment. Cultivate your capacity to delight in ordinary pleasures. This is something I had to train myself to do in the season of my life. I am always on the run, trying to complete the next task on my list, meet deadlines , whether it’s professional, personal, family or ministry. Always something! I need to be East, West, South and North with minutes of each other. They are all important. Overtime, life overwhelms you and you feel that no matter how much to do, there always something else that didn’t get done. If you are a perfectionist like me, you want to stay organized and meet your deadlines on a timely manner. Yet, we allow life to push us over our limits and boundaries and we find yourself racing war against ourselves and those around us. We feel like a failure when things don’t work out. We never content no matter what. We can never win. That war produces frustration instead of contentment and our joy begins to diminishes and we lose sight of what God is doing, his love and favor in our lives, the things that brings us joy and the baby steps we have taken in faith to overcome the challenges of where we once were which often time are worth celebrating. Have you taken time to celebrate the big and small victories we’ve won? See, it is in our nature, to want and seek more and never be content but God wants to learn and practice contentment.
Contentment also promotes true joy in eternal things. Luke 15:10 describes how the angels throw a party when one sinner is saved. How phenomenal is that? They know how to have a good time and they know what’s worth celebrating. As your contentment grows, so does your joy in the eternal. For example, if you anticipate picking up your Bible and can’t wait to hear God speak, that’s a blessing of contentment.
Contentment is rooted in eternity. If all the grains of sand on all the beaches in all the world represent eternity, then one grain of sand represents life on this earth. We’re over here grinding this one grain of sand, our time on earth, to get everything out of it and failing miserably! Too often we ignore all that God has in store for us. To increase your contentment, focus on eternity.
Contentment is a choice. When you choose it repeatedly, you create a lifestyle. Don’t expect to replace covetousness with contentment in a moment. You won’t wake up one morning and say, “Wow, I think I got contentment last night. It just happened. This is so cool.” No, it begins with a choice. Then another choice. And another. It happens moment by moment, as you put off covetousness and put on contentment.
When a desire for something comes into your mind, you can consider it and conclude, “Not necessary. I have enough.” That’s contentment.
Without Christ in me I could never choose joy. It would only be a feeble attempt at positive thinking. The source of my joy comes from my right relationship with Him and it is He who gives me the power to make that choice even in the most difficult circumstances. As I trust Him with every detail of my life I’m learning the secret of being content in any and every situation.
Contentment doesn’t mean you are happy in the bad times. It means you are satisfied with life because you know that God has things in control. Truth is, If you are not satisfied with things in your life, it is likely your human desires are getting in the way of God’s desires. When you desire what He desires, you will experience contentment to the fullest. God bless you as you live a life worthy of the calling!
Friends, my prayer for your today, may you choose your focus, choose joy, choose to laugh and Choose to cultivate a thankful heart today. I pray that you that you start focusing more on what you can do than what you can’t. Choose to celebrate life, to be joyful and to be thankful for each new day and watch God moves.
