•3:22 PM
ARE YOU CONTENT
By: Bill Bryant, Wooddale Church of Christ
As the summer weather continues with its sweltering heat and high humidity, perhaps you have found yourself, as I have, longing for cooler weather. But I distinctly remember back during the winter months when the frigid temperatures and icy winds cut like a knife wishing that hot weather would hurry up and arrive.
It’s truly hard to be content, isn’t it?
The following is a poem written by a young man, Jason Lehman, who was only fourteen when he wrote it. It speaks well for those who never seem to get what they want:
It was spring, but it was summer I wanted;
the warm days, and the great outdoors.
It was summer, but it was fall I wanted;
the colorful leaves, and the cool, dry air.
It was fall, but it was winter I wanted;
the beautiful snow, and the joy of the holiday season.
It was winter, but it was spring I wanted;
the warmth and the blossoming of nature.
I was a child, but it was adulthood I wanted;
the freedom, and the respect.
I was 20, but it was 30 I wanted;
to me mature, and sophisticated.
I was middle-aged, but it was 20 I wanted;
the youth and the free spirit.
I was retired, but it was middle age I wanted;
the presence of mind, without limitations.
My life was over.
But I never got what I wanted.
Sound familiar?
We all have surely felt that way from time to time, but it doesn’t have to be that way. No, contentment can be learned.
The apostle Paul wrote, “…for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need” (Philippians 4:11-12).
There are two key phrases in this passage, “for I have” and “I am instructed.”
Being a person of contentment is a process, not something that one makes up his mind to be and then experiences instant attainment.
The apostle Paul learned contentment.
He was instructed in the way of the Lord and came to the point where the things that worry most people (power, prestige, fame) were no longer of any value. These things paled in comparison to the value of “knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:3-8).
This true knowledge of Christ changed his value system.
He could be content with only food and raiment (I Timothy 6:8). And instead of longing for material wealth, he longed for a “crown of righteousness” (II Timothy 4:8). He got what he wanted and, more importantly, he got what he needed.
It shouldn’t be hard to understand why so few Christians today are content.
Three hundred times per day we see and hear advertisements that tell us that we must have this and that if we expect to be happy and to be somebody.
If these messages are not contradicted with bible truth gleaned from hours and hours of Bible study then we will be overcome and at the end of life we will say, “I never got what I wanted.” Then throughout eternity our sad and woeful cry will be, “I never got what I needed.”
Are you content?
