Weekend Word: Contentment
June 14th, 2009 by Todd JohnsonPaul writes to the Philippians: “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.” Phil 4:11-13 ESV
He writes:
- I have learned – contentment.
- I know – how to live with or without stuff, comfort, health, etc.
- I can – do all things through Him who strengthens me.
So the questions for me are:
- Am I a contented man?
- Do I know contented people?
- Do I spend time in the company of discontented people?
- Do I add to the sense of discontentedness because I myself am not a contented person?
Further questions: How can you and I tell if we are covetous rather than content?…
- Thoughts of money consume my day
- The financial success of other people makes me jealous
- I define success in terms of what I have rather than what I am in christ
- My family is neglected in my pursuit of money
- I close my eyes to the genuine needs of others
- I live in the paralyzing fear of losing my money
- I am prepared to borrow myself into bondage
- God receives my leftovers rather than my first fruits
Is anybody learning the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need?
Does anybody know how to be brought low and how to abound?
Can you do all of this? Is Christ strengthening you?
Anyone? Anyone?
I’d love to hear how God has brought conviction and/or is at work in some lives in the above areas.
Graham and I were talking about how what we DO want isn’t much–you know, we want our little house, this, that, the other, not much–but that even coveting small things is coveting. And coveting ‘good’ things is coveting. (Terribly profound, I know.)
I do feel that the Lord has been working in this area of my life. Things have been difficult lately–nothing dramatic, just a lot of little things that put all together bring you to a place of either semi-insanity or reliance upon God’s will being the best for you. Today was really convicting and encouraging. Thanks, Todd.
Todd- I kinda like sports. When I played high school sports I would sometimes write Phil 4:13 on my cleats or basketball shoes or track spikes- whatever the season. One day in 10th grade, a teammate asked me what it meant. I gave an athletic response, primarily because I wasn’t yet a Christian (I was a fake one then), and so I really had no clue what Paul was really talking about when he said he “could do all things through Christ who strengthened him.” Even more than the memory of my utter foolishness in that moment, when I look at that verse today I’m brought face to face with the grace of God for me in saving me from continuing on as that ignorant little unsaved wretch. Then we delve deeper into that verse in a study like yesterday’s, looking at its qualifications, and its hard not to be convicted of how manly (for lack of better words) Paul was in contrast to how cowardly I can often be. But there is the greatness of this passage to me, because it gives the remedy for such cowardice- eyes simply fixed Heavenward, on Jesus Christ. Sorry for the rant, thanks for the study, Serena got all the brevity in the family. Shalom, T
Good form as always T, good form.
Thanks for sharing.
And thanks to Serena for being such an amazingly normal part of an otherwise abbynormal family.
Todd – when are you going to post the sermon?
In response to your questions above, I received my notice last November that I was going to be unemployed at the end of December. Three thoughts went through my mind in this order: How could they do this to me (anger), how am I going to pay my bills (fear), God is the Lord of almost everything (trust). The last thought always puts everything in order for me. I wound up with incredible peace before the meeting was over because it is ludicrous to think that God is Lord over everything except what is going on in my life at the moment. The peace has also come from the perspective that I have nothing worth holding onto. Even if I am faithful in the stewardship of God’s money it does not mean that I will have “stuff” like a house, car, nice clothes, etc…What it will mean, however, is that I will get to know Him in ways that I wouldn’t otherwise. His faithfulness is NOT defined by the things provided but by His relationship with us. Jeremiah is one of the best Old Testament examples of everything going wrong yet God blessing by relationship, not things.
One of my heroes of the Faith, George Mueller of Bristol, was constantly in a position of needing money but would never ask for it. Provision after provision was made, many in the “nick of time” and his children in the orphanage never went hungry. But in his mind it was always a Godward relationship that was of utmost importance. Jim Elliot put it well (I think you may have quoted this in a previous post), “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Mr. Crabby- crazy you should bring up Mueller because Todd brought up Hudson Taylor in this study, and those two saints have always seemed to have been cut from the exact same cloth to me. Really, other than location (Taylor in China, Mueller in England), their biographies seem to read the same. Todd also brought up Robt.Murry M’Cheyne this past Lord’s day. Off the subject (sorta), but between this thread and Sunday’s study, I think I want to jump back into the journals and letters and sermons and biographies of these great saints of the past 150 years. (Jeremiah’s ain’t such a bad “biography” to look at either, now that you’ve mentioned it.)
I can truly say that I have learned contentment, with emphasis on the word learned. I cringe at the thought of how many years I wasted wanting what the other guy had and the pity parties I threw! I love the progression in Paul’s statement. First he learned (past tense) next he knows ( present) which enables him to do. I tend to think of contentment as a vegatative state but that was not the case with Paul, his contentment enabled him to do whatever God called him to do. It is covetousness that has kept me on the sidelines.
I relistened this morning to God’s word on contentment — and saw that no matter the circumstance, how freeing contentment is. It is focusing on Him — not me, circumstance or stuff. Thanks God, that even though I am far from home right now, in You I can be content right here.