Create Contentment
Posted By Amazing Moments Staff on January 20, 2012
By Amazing Moments Staff
Philippians 4:11-14 (ESV) 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 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. 13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. 14 Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.
Thoughts and Reflections
Are you content? Do material things provide contentment? What does “being content” actually mean? Honest answers to these questions provide a map of where we are, and where we are going.
The issue of contentment is at the core of us all. In the beginning, Adam and Eve were in a perfect situation. They walked and talked with God in paradise, yet when they heard there was more, they wanted to have it. When the opportunity came along to know more than God provided, they became discontent. We are no different. In fact, we are designed the same way they were. We are constantly bombarded with advertising and media that tells us there is something new or better than what we already have. Is it any surprise that we fall for it just as they did in the garden?
Not all discontentment is bad. If we go without water long enough, we will get thirsty. If we do not eat, we get hungry. Try to hold your breath for ten minutes. We are designed to have these desires. They are healthy responses. If we go without them long enough, we will die. How long can we go without an iPad or a new car or new clothes?
There is nothing evil about iPads or new cars or clothes. People who have them are not any better or worse than those of us who don’t. The problem occurs when our desire for these things is unhealthy. Our desire to have material objects can lead us to do evil things. Whether it is as obvious as robbing a convenient store, or if it is harder to see such as robbing God of tithes, or robbing our family of time together. It is our job to balance the worldly, outside influences with the Truth.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “being content” as “a feeling that ones needs or desires have been met.” Verse 11 talks about being content in whatever situation we are in. If we are walking in the peace of the LORD, we are able to maintain peace through trust in the LORD Jesus Christ. The trust we have established through Jesus Christ is the spiritual connection by which God’s power is manifested. Maintaining this relationship with our Father in heaven is the only way that we can achieve true contentment. If we allow ourselves to break this established trust, we open ourselves up to the temptations of our adversary and drive ourselves into a state of worry and discontentment. True contentment comes when we are obedient to God’s instructions and allow Him to work through us on a consistent basis. Allowing God to operate through us, by ordering our steps, satisfies His will. Our contentment is found in doing the will of our Father in heaven and pursuing with full passion the purpose for which our salvation was given to us. When we are obedient to Him while continuing to trust in Him, we become content, no matter what the circumstances.
One way we can create contentment is to get involved in the lives of those around us. Not as a busy body or a gossip, but as a friend. Whether it is at church, at work, or among family, we should look for ways to uplift those around us. Concern for others and taking action on their behalf is being like Christ. Even as He hung on the cross, He was concerned for others. Only after He made sure His mother would be taken care of did He ask for a drink.1(John 19:26-29 ESV) Our mission should be to have concern for others, and in so doing we develop relationships that overshadow our own wants and needs.
The next lesson will be January 27th, 2012
Pray for this ministry and let us know if you have a prayer need. Together we can help each other live the life God so beautifully imagined. May God keep you and bless you always, Amazing Moments Staff.
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Notes
1 ESV John 19:26-29 26When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. 28After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.
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