The Secret of Contentment
Contentment is a word that often buzzes around in Christian contexts. Defined in the dictionary as, “a state of satisfaction,” the Bible addresses the topic of contentment directly in relation to our lives as believers. God speaks to this because the human heart is marked by discontentment. Constantly seeking satisfaction, yet rarely settled, our hearts, as God’s word says of them, are misleading, wavering, hardened, and often discontent. We see it all throughout the Bible - Adam and Eve became discontent with everything God had offered them in the garden. They wanted the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the only tree to which God said, “No.” The Israelites became discontent in the wilderness when God brought them out of Egypt, so they complained and even decided to build idols to worship instead. David was discontent and wanted Bathsheba, and though she was married to another man, David took her as his own and had her husband killed in the process. Time after time, a discontent heart has led God’s people astray.
While the circumstances might look different today, the heart’s condition is the same. All we have to do is turn on the TV or scroll through social media to find a slew of things we’re told will offer us more satisfaction than what we have now - trendier clothes, newer cell phones, bigger houses, and the list goes on and on. Look past the material things and we face the trap of comparing ourselves to others, where we inevitably find others who are smarter, prettier, more talented, and more popular than we are. Or others who seem to have a far easier, less burdensome road to walk than our own. In so many ways our hearts can easily grow discontent.
The root of discontentment, though, is not really about those things we wish we had, or the circumstances we wish we could change. Ultimately, contentment is a byproduct of what we believe about God. In Philippians 4, Paul speaks to contentment, saying, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” - Philippians 4:11-13
There are a couple of things from this passage that are particularly interesting. First, Paul says that we are able to be content in all circumstances - the highs, the lows, and everything in between. Sometimes we might more readily identify discontentment in times of hardship, when we may feel our hearts doubting God, growing hard, or seeking refuge elsewhere. However, we can as easily grow discontent in times of comfortability. The pleasures of the world and even the good gifts of God will not ultimately satisfy our hearts, and they will inevitably leave us wanting more when our hope is misplaced.
Second, Paul tells us there is a secret to contentment, and that he has learned this secret. It had to be learned by Paul, because from a fleshly and worldly standpoint, contentment is not the heart’s natural response. Instead, real contentment, the type that can be had in all circumstances, is specific to the believer. Paul says that He can do all of these things how? Through Christ, who strengthens him. Jesus is the secret, and Paul learned to put his hope in Jesus in all circumstances. True contentment is empowered by Jesus and grounded in the knowledge of the promises that are ours in Christ.
Paul held dearly to these promises - they were his anchor. When we plant ourselves firmly on God’s promises, we are enabled to walk through all circumstances with a “state of satisfaction,” or contentment, that only faith in Jesus can provide. Paul didn’t overlook circumstances or minimize suffering - in fact he endured great suffering himself. But Paul had a hope that far exceeded all of this. As Paul said in Romans 8:35-39, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?..No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
In all these things we are more than conquerors because of Him who loves us. Our inheritance is secure because of Jesus’ work on our behalf and His great love for us - in both the highs and lows, in abundance and in need. No matter what life may bring, God’s promises to us are greater, and will outlive and outlast all things. Paul was convinced of this, and because he believed this whole-heartedly, he learned the secret of being content in every circumstance.
Whatever it is for you that tempts your heart away from contentment, or whichever circumstance feels too difficult and mounting to shoulder, remember that we can do all things because Jesus has won, He is our strength, and He will see us through to glory. As we cling to this, we can truly join Paul in saying, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”