Learning to be content

Philippians 4:11-13 (NLT)

Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.  I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.  For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. 

In 2009 I published a topical Bible study book entitled, “Enriching Christian Doctrine and Character”.  It contains 52 topics, one for each week of the year.  In organizing the topics, the one I chose to be the last topic was “Contentment and Peace” because I think that to have contentment and peace is the greatest of blessings.  I am reproducing my opening paragraph — “Being content and at peace are the most treasured, wonderful, and blessed feelings to experience in all of life.  Yet, contentment and peace are not natural human emotions.  Without contentment we don’t have peace of heart and mind.  We live in a society that is full of discontent.  People gravitate toward being discontented about what they have (or rather don’t have), what they look like, what job they have, and in whatever circumstances they live.  People who complain all the time are discontented and lack peace.  It seems that people complain about everything, especially our jobs, other people, even our church.”

Contentment is a quality that is learned through life’s experiences.  Paul states that he has learned how to be content with whatever he has.  It is not a natural characteristic of humankind.  Certainly our culture readily causes discontentment.  You do not learn to be content easily and you certainly cannot learn to be content through anything that the world has to offer such as through materialism, business success, and other achievements.

There’s a story of a rich English lord who overheard one of his servants remark, “Oh, if I only had five pounds, I would be perfectly content”.  He wanted this servant to be perfectly content and so figured out a way to reward her with a five pound note.  Oh, yes, she was so thankful.  Yet, when the lord left the room, but paused for a moment outside the door, he heard her say, “Why on earth didn’t I ask for ten pounds”. 

Indeed, doesn’t this describe our human tendency never to be satisfied with what we have even if we obtain more?  It’s a learning process to “know how to enjoy what you have and to be able to lose all desire for things beyond your reach” (Lin Yutang).

How content are you right now?  Likely the younger you are, the less contented you are with yourself and what you have.  Take heart that you can learn to be content, but start learning right now that whatever the world has to offer with respect to riches, materialism, and success is not going to give you lasting contentment.  The secret of contentment is not having much but wanting little.     

Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have.--Unknown