How to live content
I have experienced times of need and times of abundance. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of contentment, whether I go satisfied or hungry, have plenty or nothing. I am able to do all things through the one who strengthens me. Philippians 4.12-13 NET.
Verse 13 is famous: “I can do anything!” Verse 12, not so much. Unfortunately, the last verse is divorced from its context to mean anything. The verses have to do with contentment.
Contentment is one of the powers of God available to the saints, but one of the least understood and harnessed. Maybe because we don’t want to stay in the condition we find ourselves in. We want better conditions for our lives. We are, in fact, greedy. We want more.
To harness the power of contentment, therefore, the first step is repentance. A great example of this is found in Acts 8. Simon, the former magician, tries to buy the ability to give miraculous gifts by laying on of hands, as the apostles did. He had observed, in amazement, a previously unimaginable power. Simon produced false miracles. He made himself out to be “The Great Power”. He gloried in this reputation. Nothing like one who performed fake miracles being able to recognize the true power when it appears. Thus, he falls into the old habit of being greedy and taking advantage. Without a doubt, he had in mind to make an investment in this purchase in order to make much more than he earned as a magician. He was seeing the opportunity of the millennium. However, he receives a bucket of cold water instead. In the Kingdom of God, such ambitions are not permitted.
“I am able to do all things,” wrote Paul. He could write and live this statement because this present life is fleeting and preparatory to the eternal and heavenly one. Little on this earth matters. Contentment dwells in the heart of those who already experience the presence of the eternal God. Furthermore, what matters now is the work of God, presenting those who lack this hope with the invitation to enter into equal joy. Giving up on earthly goals and base dreams becomes easy. Nothing compares to the treasure we are depositing in Heaven.
So many people with divided hearts live restlessly and dissatisfied while attending meetings and singing hymns and saying Amen to prayers. Contentment escapes them, because what matters to them is the “quality of life” here on earth.
Thank God for the power to live contentedly in abundance or in need! He provides everything and, more than anything, serves as our only good. This is the secret mentioned by Paul: “I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing’” Psalm 16.2.
If we have God, we have everything.
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