Content with… What!?

Content with… What!? Jack Klumpenhower 6/13/2013 A friend who serves God in one of the world’s more remote jungles sent me a message this morning, asking for prayer. It seems he has malaria. The weather is stiflingly hot. And the supply boat scheduled to bring food for him and his family is past due. What did my friend ask me to pray for? That he would be content. My friend is wise. He realizes that discontent is dangerous to faith. To be able to serve God under harsh conditions, like the apostle Paul did, requires being able to say what Paul said: “I have learned how to be content with whatever I have” (Philippians 4:11, NLT). I suspect contentment is even harder for those of us who live in comfortable places, because we can quickly start thinking that God owes us an easy life. We too must learn contentment. So let’s answer some questions about what the Bible says on the subject. What is Christian contentment? It’s a heart-level satisfaction that overrides outward troubles. It’s knowing what joy, honor, and nobility comes with being an heir of God—and therefore being okay with any temporary condition he gives you. “True godliness with contentment is itself great wealth” (1 Timothy 6:6, NLT). How is Christian contentment different from other ideas about contentment? Many of those other ideas suggest that to be content you need to think less about your situation in life. Escape. Clear your mind of what’s happening. But Christian contentment comes from seeing more of your situation in life. You see what hope you have in Jesus. You see the hidden blessings your loving Father is surely giving you, and this makes you content. “What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later” (Romans 8:18, NLT). Does that mean I shouldn’t work to make my life better? The Bible says that you should work diligently to care for yourself, especially in spiritual matters, but that you should get neither anxious nor greedy. Instead, trust God. When life gets hard, take your complaints to him and rest in him, accepting what he gives you without grumbling or despair. “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7, NLT). Why is it good for me to be content? Contentment shows that you trust God. It means that you accept him being in charge instead of thinking things would be better if you ruled the world. Contentment is fitting for a creature before his Creator and for a child in the lap of his Father. “Be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, ‘I will never fail you. I will never abandon you’” (Hebrews 13:5, NLT). How will contentment help me? It keeps you focused on God and all that’s yours in Jesus. It dissolves the burden of relentlessly chasing after one empty idol or another. Instead, it fixes your heart on God above all else. “My heart is confident in you, O God” (Psalm 57:7, NLT). Will contentment make me a better person? Yes, it makes you ready to serve and worship God. It lets you rejoice and be thankful. You can set aside impatience, complaining, and bitterness. You become able to resist all the sins that begin with thinking God has not been good enough to you—greed, envy, boasting, lying, and every kind of lust. You rise above self-seeking, and practice God-seeking instead. You learn humility. “Lord, you are mine! I promise to obey your words!” (Psalm 119:57, NLT). Is there anything I should not be content with? Oh, never be content with your sin. Never think that you’re holy enough and don’t need to become still more like Jesus. Always hunger for more grace from God: to obey more completely, to pray more sweetly, to plant yourself more firmly in his love. A Christian is continually restless, actually—but restless for more of God! “I thirst for God, the living God” (Psalm 42:2, NLT). How do I get contentment? Look to God for contentment. Your contentment must be in him—based on his goodness and beauty—and he will help you see it. When Paul wrote of his contentment, he said the secret to it was his closeness to Jesus: “I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13, NLT). My friend in the jungle is right to pray and to ask for prayer. That in itself is an act of trusting God, a sign of a person on the path to contentment. Jack Klumpenhower is a writer and children’s ministry worker living in Colorado.