How To Be Content

HOW TO BE CONTENT

One of the things that God likes to see in his people is contentment. He wants us to be content. So this morning we will look at how God sometimes works to help us to become more content.

Prayer

Often God will put us in a situation which is uncomfortable for us in order to teach us the secret of contentment. Remember our old friend Elijah? God sent him to the Brook Kerith to wait out a drought for three years. And during this time, Ravens would bring Elijah meat and bread to eat two times a day. Just think of how this must have been unpleasant for Elijah, at least at first. In Leviticus, God told the Jews to regard the ravens, along with other birds, as unclean. The ravens were scavengers, and would eat most anything. But God instructed Elijah to eat what these dirty scavengers brought him to eat.

Also, there seems to be no variety in what Elijah ate. Imagine eating the same thing twice a day, every day for three years. Yuk! But Elijah did this without complaining. God was pleased with him and sent him afterward to do mighty works for the Lord. Elijah learned to be content with what God provided for him.

Paul said in Philippians 4:11-12, 11 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.

Paul at times had plenty, but much of the time he had very little. But he said he learned the secret of contentment, whether times were good or times were bad. This then begs the question, who is more likely to find contentment, the folks with very little, or the folks with much. I have known some very poor families in Mexico who had little more than food and shelter, but yet they were some of the happiest people I know. I have also known some wealthy people who were never satisfied with their wealth. They were always striving for just a little bit more. They are always looking for something new to satisfy them. The truth is that the Paul’s secret of contentment can be found and enjoyed by anyone, regardless of wealth or social status.

Some people might be quite content in their present familiar surroundings. But if they are moved to a different country, a different culture, then many become discontent. The food is different and they do not like it. The smells are not the same. The language is hard to learn. And the social customs are strange. So now they are no longer content.

God sent Paul to many different countries and cultures. It would be hard to count the hardships that Paul encountered. He was harassed, beaten, imprisoned, stoned and left for dead. But in all this, Paul claims to have found the secret of contentment. And so can we.

Luke 10 tells us that Jesus sent the disciples to spread the gospel with nothing. He told them not to take any money, no travel bag, and no extra shoes. I mean they had nothing except what they were wearing! Then when they were invited to stay in someone’s home, they were not to go anywhere else. Even though the food might be meager and the bed hard, they were to stay there and not look around for a better deal. They were not to be picky. Jesus was teaching those disciples the lesson of contentment.

1 Timothy 6:6-8 tells us “6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.”

Paul says we should be content with food and shelter. Jesus even said that if we follow him, our earthly good might be meager. We find the story in Luke 9,

“57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”

58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

Jesus was trying to tell this young man that if he were to become a follower, that there might be times when he would have to sleep in the fields, to go without the best of food, and possibly be hunted down by the Jewish authorities.

Two antonyms of content are worry and anxiety. Worry can be so destructive. Worry not only robs us of enjoying our daily lives, but it can also do temporary and long term damage to our bodies, including