Contentment - Paul

Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.

Philippians 4:11-12

In one episode of the long-running television comedy The Simpsons, the oafish Homer Simpson says to his filthy-rich boss, C. Montgomery Burns, “Ya know, Mr. Burns, you’re the richest guy I know—way richer than Lenny.”

“Yes,” replies Burns, owner and operator of the infamous Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, “but I’d trade it all for a little more.”

Though a character like Mr. Burns knows something about making money, he doesn’t understand the first thing about contentment, a state of mind the apostle Paul had learned.

Paul didn’t learn the value of contentment in some kind of vacuum but through his own difficulties. Paul set out on his missionary journeys with little in hand to cover the necessities of life. On many occasions—most notably as he sat in prison for preaching the gospel—he had to do without even the basics. There’s nothing like sitting naked and in pain in a bare jail cell to focus your attention on what’s really important!

How does a man of God learn contentment? He focuses on the goodness of God in providing him with every breath he takes. Contentment comes when he learns to feel satisfied with whatever provisions God makes for him. Though many would say, “I’ll be content once I . . . ,” the apostle Paul said, “I will be content in whatever situation God places me and with whatever he provides me.”

When you learn to live in this way, you will defeat the spiritual enemies of envy, pride, and greed. As a magnificent side benefit, you will more fully enjoy what God has already so generously given you.

You won’t meet a lot of people who truly feel content with what they have. You can find the key to true joy and happiness when you learn contentment, which means living with an attitude of gratitude for all that God has given you.