I was thinking about contentment today, and what it means to be content. 1 Timothy 6:6 says, "But Godliness with contentment is great gain." Hebrews 13:5 says, "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.' " These verses talk about contentment with a financial situation. What does contentment look like in other aspects of life? Read on for my thoughts.
This question is a struggle for me because I see circumstances in my life that are not good. (I'm going to be vague here because the circumstances themselves are not the issue. It's my reaction to them that matters.) My displeasure with how things are leads me to be discontent with how they are. I want to see those circumstances change, and I'm afraid that if I decide to be content with how they are that they will remain in that bad state. But is contentment the same as saying, "Well, that's how it is, and I won't work to change it"?
I don't think it is. Saying that would result in settling for less than God's best in many situations. I think contentment is saying that, yes, this particular situation is not good. Yet, I'm not going to let one bad circumstance ruin for me all the good circumstances with which God has blessed me. Instead, I will still seek after Him for the wisdom, grace, and mercy to change that aspect of my life that I don't like, if He is willing. A friend of mine once put it succinctly, "I will not let my circumstances ruin the joy of my salvation." That's a decent definition of contentment. Above all, though, the issue is whether I am willing to be led (and to do any work that is necessary) to the circumstances that He wants me to be in. If I am willing to do that, maybe then I will be able to say, like Paul, "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation." Philippians 4:12
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