Walk This Way - In Contentment

This past Sunday, Pastor Matt continued the Walk This Way series, with a conversation dealing with what it means to live in contentment. First, let’s look at its’ definition. I love how the Cambridge English Dictionary defines it; “Happiness and satisfaction, often because you have everything you need”.

The Apostle Paul puts it this way in Philippians 4:11-13;

“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.”

Paul was thanking the church at Philippi for their generous gifts to him as they had heard of his need as he was in prison for preaching the Gospel of Christ. That’s right, he was in prison when he wrote these words. That is mind-blowing to me! In fact, the theme of the entire book of Philippians is one of thankfulness and gratitude. Verses 12 and 13 are huge! Paul reveals that he has learned the secret of living in contentment. It is complete reliance on Christ’s strength, not on his! Not only was the Mystery revealed to Paul (which is a whole other conversation) but the secret to living a life of contentment was also revealed to him!

Pastor Matt listed several things in which we may pursue contentment:

These are just examples, and there are many more, if which we allow to dictate our understanding of the secret of living a content life, could bring us discontentment instead. Pastor Matt reminded us that we need to set our minds on what is true and what is right about where our contentment lies, because it affects our lives in so many ways. Some of these areas are:

If our contentment is misplaced, with our reliance on anything other than on “Him who gives me strength”, we will get a skewed understanding of our rest, our joy, our acceptance, our peace, and our patience, just to name a few. A misplaced understanding in which, if our response to any challenge to these aspects of life is anything other than reliance on ”Him who gives me strength”, will bring discontentment. This is a favorite tool of our enemy. Don’t be fooled by it.

David led us in a new song yesterday entitled Jireh. Jireh is a name that God gave Himself which means Our Provider. (If you haven’t done a study of all of the different names that God gave Himself, and there are many, I would encourage you to do so. Every name He gave Himself describes a different aspect of His character. Pretty cool.) The lyrics to the chorus of Jireh are as follows:

What a wonderful truth to sing to our Father! I’d encourage you to download it and listen to it often.

Maybe the editor of the Cambridge English Dictionary had also discovered the secret that Paul spoke about in Philippians 4. “Happiness and satisfaction, often because you have everything you need”. The more we learn about Christ, the more we understand our contentment is in “Him who gives me strength”. Go, live your life...and rest