Contentment: March 31, 2014

TODAYS WORD FOR MONDAY MARCH 31, 2014.

CONTENTMENT

DEFINITION:

To be satisfied; to be happy; the feeling of being satisfied with one’s possessions, status or situation.

SCRIPTURE:

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content. Philippians 4:11

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4: 19.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

The more we talk to people we realize that they are not content. When we think of contentment we go back many years and remember the contentment we saw on the face of all our children after feeding them and watching them fall asleep. Babies have that look of contentment because they have no concerns about life.

Life is not easy. For many people life is extremely difficult and they face many problems. Many children and adults today are not even sure if they will have enough to eat from one day to the next. Life seems hopeless to them. Where there is no hope there is despair. Where there is despair how can there be contentment?

Before his conversion Paul was not in need for anything. He had it all, the best of education, prestige, and power and was living in plenty. Paul willingly gave it all up to follow the Lord and preach the gospel. As a result he often lived in need.

In the verse above from Philippians 4:11, Paul tells us that he has learned to be content in any and every situation. Apparently, Paul was not naturally inclined to be content. Being in need was new to him. He continues in verse 12 to tell us that he learned to be content “whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

In I Corinthians 4:11 Paul describes his state of need: “To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated and homeless.”

Paul really had reasons to want to be content. He suffered greatly for preaching the gospel. In II Corinthians 11: 25-28 Paul gave specific examples of his sufferings: beatings, stoning, shipwrecks, hunger, thirst, being cold and naked, and imprisonments. 

In verse 19 (above) Paul tells us what it was that he learned. Paul said the secret of contentment is to know that “God will supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

In II Corinthians 1:9-10, Paul gives us a testimony of his faith in God that is the source of his contentment: “Indeed in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. On Him we set our hope that He will continue to deliver us.”

The message for us today is that when we know Jesus as our Savior and put our total trust in Him and rely on His power and strength then we will learn that we can be content in all situations.

Our Lord is our strength, our energizer, the supplier of all our needs, and the one who enables us to keep going and going and going. In truth, we are no different from Paul. The same One who lived in Paul now lives through us. Christ is our life. He is our confidence and our energizer and we can be totally content in Him.

Many people feel empty inside. Often the desire for more possessions is a longing to fill that emptiness. That emptiness is a God-shaped void. It can only be filled by accepting Christ into our life and allowing God to fill that empty place in our life. This is the only way to find contentment.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week continues to challenge us to memorize the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20: 4-6. (Paraphrased)

You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness. You shall not worship them or serve them.

PRAYER:

Help me and my family to be content in Christ throughout this day. May we learn from the apostle Paul that whatever situation we are in to trust in God’s promise to supply all our need according to Christ’s glorious riches.