Contentment

We often complain about the everyday annoyances of life. “It is too hot or too crowded to be out.” “I have a stupid meaningless job or I am not paid enough for the work I do.”

These are comments I have heard many times and quite honestly probably said a few times myself!

How can we be content in this world today? We see the people around us continue to want and get more and more that it is easy for us to get caught up in the worldly excitement of it ourselves.

Big screen TV’s with 150 channels. Cars that go from 0-60 in 4 seconds. Clothing that is so stylish you just gotta have it. We always seem to want more and it seems that we learn this at a very young age today.

But, the Bible tells us that believers should demonstrate contentment in their lives. We find this in Old Testament passages like Psalm 37:16 “A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked.” and New Testament passages like 1 Timothy 6:8 “And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content”.

Do you realize that there are indeed many people around the world that would be content to simply have food and clothing? Most of us can probably go to our closet and find clothing that we don’t even wear or to the pantry and find plenty of food.

We are also to be content with our wages and with the things that we have. Paul learned this lesson. He wrote to the church in Philippi that he learned to be content with whatever the situation he was in. (When Paul wrote the letter he was probably in a Roman prison.)

We know people who love money and will not be satisfied with more money. Money is not the secret. In fact, there really isn’t a secret to contentment.

Being content is simply trusting in the fact that God is watching over you and taking care of you.

In whatever our situation, we need to constantly remember that Christ will never leave us nor forsake us.

God may not always get us out of trouble, but He will always see us through it. (Think of Daniel and his friends.)

As we go back to our Fall/Winter routines, we need to remember that God is in control of this world. He allows things to happen for reasons that we cannot understand.

We need to simply trust and obey. Be content with whatever situation you are in and realize God has His hands in it and is playing a part in your life.

Need some inspiration and evidence of God at work in people’s lives?

Read the story of Joseph in Genesis. As I am sure you are aware, Joseph goes from slave to prime minister.

“Bad” things can and do happen to us, but God is always there. Remember that and you should have no problems being content in your situation.