THE SECRET OF CONTENTMENT
Asked what he had learned from drifting about with his companions in life rafts for 21 days while lost in the Pacific Ocean, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker replied, “The biggest lesson I learned from that experience was that if you have all the fresh water you want to drink and all the food you want to eat, you ought never complain about anything.” Still there are many Christians with plenty of food and water who are chronic complainers.
While the Apostle Paul was never content with his spiritual attainment, he had learned the secret of contentment in daily living . Note his words from his prison experience in his letter to the Philippians: “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.” (Philippians 4:11-12)
Contentment comes from appreciating what we have rather than longing for what we do not have. There has never been a generation of Christians on this earth that has had so much and appreciated it so little as the ones living in America.
We need more Christian role models who have learned to live with less and invested more in the things that have eternal value. My parents modeled this concept, early in my life, when they had to live on the bare necessities of life during the depression. You would have never thought they were deprived. They were content with the basics of life which God had promised. There was joy and a positive atmosphere in our home.
Conditions were far from ideal in Paul’s prison experience. Tomorrow was uncertain and the present was painful. With his back bruised and bleeding from the recent scourging and his feet locked in stocks, one might wonder how he could be content. I like how Roger Campbell in his book, Staying Positive in a Negative World, puts it: “He focused on what he had rather than on what he lacked.”
There are lots of negative things going on all around us and we can choose to be contented Christians or complaining ones.
During this season and every season Jesus is the reason we can find contentment. He promises to be with us in every circumstance of life. Paul found it so, I trust you will too.
