Contentment, Is It Possible?

Philippians 4: 11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned , in whatsoever state I am , therewith to be content.

12 I know both how to be abased , and I know how to abound : every where   and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry , both to abound and to suffer need .

Contentment, how little we see of that in today's world.  That is true in the secular world but it is also true in the church as well.  There are many that still want to keep up with the 'Jones' or 'the church down the street'.  There are those that belief unless you have something bigger and better, then you aren't in God's will.

Did they ever read about Paul?  This man had it all, he was respected, he had power, he was well off in his days before his conversion.  Yet he served time in jail, he was beaten, he was ship wreaked.  He truly was forced 'give up' all the things that we hold dear but the treasure he was building is so much greater than anything we can imagine.

In jail, he was content, not because he had good food, a color tv, an exercise room.  He was content because he knew and SAW that God could unlock the cell.  He was content because He knew his treasure was in heaven.  He was content because he had the peace of God.

This is the 3rd or 4th time I'm taken verses out of Phil. 4, there is a reason for that.  There is so much there for us to get.  Paul gave us the basis of what our Christian life should be about.  He shows us what life is like when it gets down to the nitty-gritty.  It's not about unfounded promises but on the basis of God being the God of His promises.  We so often base 'where we are' on what is happening to us in that minute.

We may be having a rough day but God is still God, that is where our contentment should come from.  We may be suffering, we have been wronged, we have been hurt, we are mistreated.  God is still God and He along is where our contentment will come from.

When we look to a person, a church, a group to find our peace, to give us contentment, we will always be disappointed.  They all fail, WE all fail.  We are not able to always be on point, we have bad days and any one you put on a pedestal will fall off at some point and time.

But God fails not, He is faithful and when we trust Him, we can be content.  The most important thing we can do in any given day is trust God.  All other things revolve around that. We must believe His word and trust His promises.