Are you discontent? Is there some kind of tension in your life right now that if it were only resolved you would be able to be happy? It is a good and godly thing to desire contentment, but the problem is that we frequently misunderstand its source.
Many people assume that contentment is tied to circumstances. We think, "The reason I am not content right now is because I don’t have enough or my boss is a jerk or my spouse is hurting me or I’m plagued with health problems." If our discontentment is due to our circumstances, it follows that the way to contentment must be through changing our circumstances. So, we try to acquire more, find a different job, leave the marriage, or get healthy. The uncanny, unavoidable result is that discontentment finds us in those new circumstances, too.
So how do we find contentment? A good place to look is in the example and writings of Paul. If we think we have cornered the market on bad circumstances, we need to reacquaint ourselves with his story. In 1 Corinthians 15:30, he summed up his circumstances as being “in danger every hour.” In 2 Corinthians 11, he shared his experiences of great labors, many imprisonments, countless beatings and brushes with death:
Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. (2 Cor 11:24-29a)
We could read that passage and use it to console ourselves by thinking, “at least I don’t have it as bad as Paul did!” I admit that occasionally that is my way of cheering myself up in difficult circumstances – “it could be worse. I could be like so-and-so.” But that is not the appropriate way to handle discontentment, and it is not the reason I want to draw your attention to this passage. Paul’s recounting of his suffering is helpful in that it helps us to see the depth of meaning in Philippians 4:11-13, where Paul claims to have learned the secret of contentment. If Paul, who so consistently encountered such horrible circumstances, was able to learn the secret of contentment, then certainly we can, too. Here is his claim regarding contentment:
…for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 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. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Phil 4:11b-13)
Paul learned through his many trials that contentment in all circumstances comes through looking to Jesus. …I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. When Paul wrote, I can do all things through him who strengthens me, he meant, "I can endure any circumstance." Whether in safety or danger, abundance or need, Paul found contentment knowing that Christ was with him, strengthening him through it all.
Traces of this attitude are found throughout his letter to the Philippians. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain(1:21). Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ…(3:8). I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (3:14). The reason Paul is content is because he wants Christ more than anything and he has Christ no matter his circumstances. It could be said that Jesus was Paul’s “happy place.”
The truth is that discontentment comes from looking for contentment in something other than Jesus, whether that is more material comforts, a better work situation, an adoring spouse, or better health. There is nothing wrong with desiring those things, but when they become ultimate things, discontentment will soon follow.
The psalmist wrote in Psalm 16 that the only good worth finding is in the Lord: You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you… You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psa 16:2,11). If this is true, it is no wonder that we find ourselves discontented when we are pursuing something other than Him. For this reason, discontentment is a good sign that we are not pursuing Him as we should.
When we find ourselves in a place of discontentment, we should repent of whatever pursuit has taken our eyes off Him and once again look to Him for our everything. We should return to the Word, return to prayer, and return to fellowship with His body, the church. We should trust Him for the strength to endure whatever unpleasant circumstances we are experiencing, knowing that we have no good apart from Him.
Contentment is not merely possible. It is unavoidable if Christ is our highest good. If we pursue Christ the way Paul did, we too will be able to say, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”
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