Thomas Watson, said “A holy heart knows there is nothing lost by obedience” (Religion Our True Interest). He gives this example: “A heathen exercising much cruelty to a Christian, asked him in scorn, what great miracle his master Christ ever did? The Christian replied, ‘This miracle, that though you use me thus cruelly, I can forgive you.'”
The go-to verses regarding contentment are found in Paul’s letter to the Philippians: “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (4:11-13).
Here are a few observations about this text.
Paul had to learn contentment. It is not natural for us to be contented. We are sometimes hard to please! So we ought to determine to be learners alongside the apostle Paul. We are in good company.
Paul learned in “whatever state” he was in. So this means every situation is a learning opportunity. We don’t have to enroll in a special contentment class. We’re already in it! The contentment lesson is always on the blackboard, and we are always invited to learn it.
Contentment is needed in basically two areas: things we have and don’t want, and things we want and don’t have. That about sums it up. You might make a list of things that fall in these two categories, and see how your contentment is faring.
Who teaches us the contentment lesson? Christ does. He not only teaches, but also strengthens His students. And why do we need strength? Because contentment is not an easy lesson to learn. Like so many things in the Christian life, contentment is simple, but it is not easy.
Now let’s look at another passage that mentions contentment. Hebrews 13:5: “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’”
What is our ultimate reason for contentment? He will never leave us. He will never forsake us. He is committed to His people and He keeps His word.
Contentment is the perspective we bring to the way we read our own story. We read our lives by faith, trusting that God is teaching us to trust Him. Contentment is a deep satisfaction with the will of God in our lives.
Discontent is an alternative way of reading our story. This requires no learning, for we are born knowing how to grumble, murmur, and complain.
Is it hard to be content? Yes. In fact it’s impossible. But you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.
“So will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day” (Ezekiel 34:12).
“I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel” (Ezek. 34:14).
Reading this wonderful passage in Ezekiel, it struck me how often we feel scattered in the cloudy and dark day. We let our circumstances, our worries, our needs and wants, all push us around until we feel scattered and disoriented. And yet….God seeks us out. He finds us in the dark day, huddled in some mindset of fearfulness, and He delivers us. Look where He takes us! He puts us in a fat, good pasture on the mountaintop. Just imagine the lush green grass up Read More
The angels met the women very early on that first resurrection morning at the tomb, and they said, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ And they remembered His words” (Luke 24:5-8).
What a strange kind of greeting: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” And what a great question! We might ask ourselves such a question today: Why are we looking for Jesus in the wrong place? And next the angels say, “Remember?” How often we forget what He has told us!
One of the common ways we look for Jesus in the wrong place is by looking for Him in our feelings. Sometimes I hear women say, “I just don’t feel like Jesus is close.” But He never told us to look for Him in our feelings. He didn’t say to meet Him at the tomb, He said to meet Him in Galilee. If we think we must look for Him in our feelings, we can try to “do” certain things that will generate a spiritual feeling to reassure ourselves. We have not remembered what He told us.
He has told us where to find Him. Remember? He is Risen! We are raised with Him, and He is above, sitting at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1). This is why we “seek those things which are above, where Christ is.” Jesus dwells in us through His word (Col. 3:16) and helps us remember all He has told us. So we “eagerly wait for the Savior” (Phil. 3:20) and look for Him in the Word, in the Supper, and in the weekly celebration of His triumph over the grave. And when we look for Him there, we are obeying what He told us to do.
It struck me the other day how much lifting up we see in the Scriptures. We are to lift up our prayers, our hands, our eyes, our voices, our hearts, and our souls to the Lord.
Lifting is a great image. It is always pointed upward, above us. We are to lift up our heads, lift up our eyes and look up to our Creator God, raising our thoughts and hearts to a higher place.
Why do we need to do so much lifting? Because we don’t have to do anything to get pulled down by the gravity of life’s distractions. We get ourselves focused on the world’s troubles or our own troubles, and we need to lift up our eyes. “I lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Ps. 121: 1-2).
This may seem obvious, but lifting is something we do. It is not passive, but active. “Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees” (James 12:12). Lifting requires strength and faith. It may require courage. You may not feel like lifting anything. But lifting won’t happen by itself. In other words, we have to exert ourselves. Picking up your mind and setting it on things above, that is what lifting is. It seems like lifting is a pretty big part of the Christian life, so we need to get practicing.
God is the one who does the actual heavy lifting. But we are still active in this process because we call out to Him and He lifts us up. “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up” (James 4:10). This humbling is essential. When we humble ourselves, we get low. We call out to our God, and He remembers us and lifts us up, just like a mother lifts up her child and carries him.
“The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace” (Num. 6:26). When He lifts us up, we quit fussing and rest. And when we rest in Him, we will be lifting up hearts and hands and voices all the more.
The Christian life is simple, but it is not easy. God’s directions to us are not complicated or unclear, but we often encounter hard things. Following Christ is not like floating on an inner tube down a lazy river. In fact, drifting can be dangerous. The Christian life requires attentiveness and diligence, perseverance and faith. It is challenging and rewarding in the very best and truest sense.
We sometimes forget that we are the ones responsible for “how we are doing” in the Lord. Consider these verses (20-21) in Jude:
“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
Notice our responsibility here. We are to build ourselves up in our faith. We are to keep ourselves in the love of God. Read More