Learning Contentment

Contentment, a noun meaning satisfaction, being pleased, and state of mind - hmm, where I am at personally with that?

Truthfully, even though I am in a relatively calm space of time relative to many other stages of my life, contentment does not seem to just fall into my lap on a daily basis.

...I have learned

One of the first people that I hope to meet when I graduate to the eternal is the Apostle Paul. In 2 Cor: 23-26 he describes ordeals that I cannot even imagine, such as 39 stripes received 5 different times; three times being beaten with rods; three times being shipwrecked; a night and a day in the deep; and during journeys facing the perils of waters, robbers, his own countrymen, the Gentiles, in the city, in the wilderness, in the sea and among false brethren. Not a pretty picture.

And yet, Paul writes in Phil 4:11"...I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content..."

The author Ben Campbell Johnson puts that statement this way: "I have learned to accept my circumstances, whatever they may be."

Then Paul adds a key element

In Phil: 4:13 Paul writes, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Of that statement the author Ben Campbell Johnson uses this paraphrase: "I can do everything I need to do because Christ is the energizing center of my life."

So what was Paul looking at?

If Paul had kept his focus on the perils that he was facing, which were dreadful to say the least, he would probably have had a hard time rising above the situations and shouting, "Hey, look at me - I'm a content man!" But his faith and his focus were on Christ, and from that he received the strength and the energy that he needed to make it through the trials and to the other side.

Televangelist Joyce Meyer often speaks to this

Have you ever heard televangelist Joyce Meyer speak at a conference or on one of her Enjoying Everyday Life broadcasts on TV? If so, you will be able to read the following words aloud and intone them in her voice: "But I just can't do it. It's too hard. It's just too hard!" Joyce takes on a "poor me" stance and often interjects those words in a whining tone as a way of reaching people who feel sorry for themselves and then quit trying to improve their situation.

Her words are just the opposite of those that the Apostle Paul spoke. Paul said, "I can do all things..."

No, contentment doesn't just fall into my lap, but I can work toward it. I can put my focus daily on the One who can get me there. It is one of those decisions in life that is entirely up to me.

For more articles by this writer, click here.

Source:
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1994
Ben Campbell Johnson, The Heart of Paul, p. 143.