- The Secret of Being Content
- How to Be Content in All Things
How many people do you know who would be perfectly satisfied if they suddenly lost everything they owned? My guess is not very many.
We may not lose everything we own, but there may be times when our finances take a hit, or a large payment comes due, and suddenly we feel the terror of desperately needing more.
I’m not talking only about money and possessions here. I’m also talking about the storms of life. We get a bad report from the doctor. Our teenage children are in rebellion. God leads us to a new job in a new city, and we feel terribly lonely. The Bible says we should be content in all these situations — but how?
Before we answer that question, let’s acknowledge that often even those with much are not content. In church work, you get to know people who are chronic complainers. No matter what’s happening in the church, they grumble about it. You could give them a ten-pound bag of gold, and they’d complain that it’s too heavy. We’re never content.
Who wants to live that way? I don’t. I don’t want to be consumed by the constant need for better, bigger, newer, more.
Paul said he had learned the secret of contentment. He wrote the following words from prison. Paul was in chains in a filthy jail, and even in that situation, he could be content:
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. (Philippians 4:11b-12)
That sounds great for Paul. But he was an Apostle. He probably had some super-apostle power, right?
No, he didn’t. He had nothing that you and I don’t have. Paul had learned how to be content in every situation. He had to learn this, and so do we.
How can we start down the road of learning to be content?
First, be thankful.
You have to make a conscious decision to be thankful for whatever you have and for whatever situation you’re in. Even if you don’t yet feel the gratitude, choose the gratitude.
No matter what’s going on, there are things for which you can be thankful. I’m grateful I live in a house with running water and electricity. I’m thankful that this job I dislike provides me with an income to help feed my family. I’m grateful for this old car that, somehow, still gets me from point A to point B. I’m grateful for my family. I’m grateful for my health, even though there are problems. None of these situations are perfect, but they could be much, much worse. And each one of them is a gift from God.
We won’t always have what we want, but, as believers, we will always have what we need.
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)
God doesn’t promise to grant our every wish, but he does promise to meet our every need. As you take stock of what you have, know that each item on your list is a gift from your Father. You will never be without what you need.
If you want to learn to be content, start with being thankful for what God has given you.
Second, give.
In the context of Philippians 4:19, Paul is thanking the church for a gift to him. The people had very little, and it was a huge sacrifice for them to give anything to Paul. So Paul reminds them, as they look at what little they have left, that God will supply their every need.
The antidote to discontentment is generosity. If you’re in the trap of always wanting more, give. Rather than complain about what you don’t have, be generous with what you do have.
I have to admit that this doesn’t come naturally to me. To my wife, yes, but to me, no. In our small group in Gadsden, Alabama, Kim made an incredible dinner and did some other really neat things for the group. The others wanted to pay her back, “Kim, this is too much, let us pay you.” And her response was, “This is my gift. I have the gift of giving. I don’t need anything in return.”
That’s her, not me. She has the gift of giving. I have the gift of receiving. So we’re a perfect match.
But this is why I have to decide to give. I have to forcefully make that decision because it doesn’t come naturally to me. Maybe it doesn’t come naturally to you. Once you start living a generous lifestyle, though, you’ll find yourself asking, “Why don’t I have more?” less frequently, and “Why do I have so much?” much more often.
That’s because God blesses those who give. If you want to learn the secret of contentment, give.
Third, lean into Jesus.
Again, Paul is our example here. He’d been hungry. He’d been lonely. He’d been stoned, whipped, and beaten. His work had been attacked. He’d experienced rejection and betrayal. And now, after all that, he sits and writes from a jail cell, facing the very real possibility of execution. And he says he’s content.
Paul’s focus wasn’t on learning to be content — his focus was on loving Jesus and living the kind of life that was pleasing to Jesus. When the bad times came, he leaned hard into the One he knew and loved and trusted. That’s the only way he could write these words:
I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)
When I was a kid, people would ask me my favorite Bible verse, and I’d say, “Jesus wept.” It was the only verse I had memorized. After I grew up, my favorite verse became Philippians 4:13. My daughter once asked me my favorite verse, and I told her, and she replied, “Dad, everybody says that one, be original.” But no, really, I’ve said for over forty years that this is my favorite verse.
Many people, though, take this verse out of context. Some folks use it as an excuse to do just about anything, in or out of God’s will, thinking that whatever they do, Jesus will make sure it’s done.
That is not what Paul is saying.
What Paul is saying is that he can’t take credit for learning how to be content in every situation. It’s thanks to Jesus that he’s learned it. Our contentment comes from Jesus. Paul didn’t work and work to reach that level. Contentment was given to him.
Since Paul knew that everything, even the strength to be content no matter what he faced, came from Christ, Paul had faith that he could do whatever God called him to do. He knew that Christ’s grace and strength would always be enough (2 Corinthians 12:9). In the very next verse, he writes:
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)
In every situation, Paul was content, because he depended on Christ for strength. He depended on God in every situation. Paul wasn’t striving for contentment, he was striving to depend on Jesus. And in doing so, he learned contentment. He learned that he could do whatever God called him to do because of the strength that Jesus provided.
When we’re weak, that’s when we’re strong. When we struggle with the disease of discontent, that’s when Jesus will give us strength to be content. Don’t strive for contentment. Strive instead to depend on God. Learn to trust him. Grow in your love for him. Watch him as he takes your circumstances and uses them for good.
In the process of getting to know Jesus better and better, you’ll learn that you really can do all things through him who strengthens you. You’ll learn the secret of contentment.