Content: May 26, 2010

Today's Word for Wednesday May 26, 2010

CONTENT

DEFINITION

Satisfied, ease of mind and happy.

SCRIPTURE

"I have learned that whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." Philippians 4:11


KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

Recently we were in the country of Panama. We took a bus for several hours and then rode down a river deep into the rain forest of Panama in a dugout canoe. We went to an Indian village where we met about 75 Indians. What we found, seeing how they lived, was what we had seen in so many other areas of the world. They had so very little. There was no electricity, no running water, no sewage system and they fished the river for their food. Their homes had thatched roofs with flimsy sides that could be ruined with a strong wind. BUT - they were content. They had very little worries, if any and they seemed so happy that someone came to visit with them and see how they lived.

In the verse above from Philippians, Paul was writing to the church in Philippi and thanking them for a gift they sent him. In this context he wrote the words that we have written above under scripture. These words show us that contentment is not a natural feeling among most men and women. Contentment is one of the flowers given to us from God. If we are to have contentment in our lives we must cultivate it like a flower.

Covetousness, discontent and murmuring are as natural to men as thorns are to a garden or the soil. We need not sow thistles and thorns because they come naturally to earth. This same reasoning deals with men. We do not need to teach one to complain, be jealous or even to lie about something. This comes naturally to all men.

If we want wheat in our fields, we must plough and sow the wheat. If we want flowers in our garden, we must first have a garden and then be willing to care for it. Contentment must be cultivated in our lives just like flowers in the garden. If we are to have contentment it must be cultivated because it will not grow in us by nature.

It is our new nature in Christ alone that can produce contentment. Even then we must be careful to watch it, maintain it and cultivate it with the grace that God has sown in us. Paul says in this verse that he has LEARNED to be content. By saying this he is, inferring that at one time in his life he did not know how to be content. The learning process cost him some pains in his life. There were times when he thought he had learned to be content and for some reason it broke down and he failed.

He wrote to Timothy in I Timothy 6:6-8 that godliness with contentment is great gain. He reminded Timothy that we brought nothing into this world and it is a certainty that we cannot take anything out. So therefore having food and clothing (for today) should give us all the contentment we need.

Now Paul was an old man, locked up in Nero's dungeon at Rome, writing to the friends he loved in the church at Philippi and telling them that he had LEARNED TO BE CONTENT! We learn through these words that we cannot be content without going through the process of learning. This takes discipline and will not come naturally. In order to be content we must learn not to envy or be jealous or covet what others have. Being content in Christ is an achievement that one must learn and then prayerfully work to attain.

LEARNING

Our memory verse for this week is found in Proverbs 3:9.
"Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase."

PRAYER

Teach me today to learn to be content in You. Help me to realize that contentment comes through the going through the tough valleys in life. Thank You for teaching me daily as I read Your word and communicate to You through prayer.