APRIL 2012 EDITION

Let me ask you something. Are you happy, really happy? Happiness, I am told, is circumstantial.  It is based on what is going on in your life, now.  Is that even the right question to ask? A better question to ask is, "Are you content?"

Webster's defines contentment as "being mentally or emotionally satisfied with things as they are " Others define it as peace of mind.

Does contentment mean that we are truly satisfied?  Do you find yourself wanting more, better, bigger, prettier, nicer, kinder, more expensive, easier, less painful, more loving, easier to get along with, more understanding and so on and so on….Is that wrong? I guess the question is, "Where does it end?" Perhaps the familiar Serenity Prayer could help us. "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."

On the active side of the coin in seeking contentment, The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi is instructive.
"Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
 Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
 Where there is doubt, faith.
 Where there is despair, hope.
 Where there is darkness, light, and
 Where there is sadness, joy.
 O Divine Master, grant that I may not
 So much, seek to be consoled, as to console.
 To be understood, as to understand.
 To be loved, as to love.
 For it is in giving that we receive.
 It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
 And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

What does the Bible say about contentment?

Paul speaks of it in Phillipians 4:11, 12, "for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength."

Hebrews 13:5 says, "Keep your lives free from the love of money. Be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you"

I Timothy 6:6 says, "Godliness with  contentment is great gain."

Allow me to quote something I read regarding the issue of contentment. It is from "Rescuing Ambition" by Dave Harvey.

"There is an old saying: "Graveyards  are full of indispensable people." It is a great reminder of an eternal truth.  We are all decaying.  That means we are all in decline; whether you are in the spring, summer, autumn or winter of life, you are going to be replaced.  Whatever position you hold right now that fires your passion is only yours for a season.

Does the thought of your own decline depress you?  It is supposed to be a liberating thought. Our ambitions, and therefore our contentment, are so often tied to the circumstantial mountains and valleys of life, but whatever we obtain here is never ours forever.  We will have to give it up - if at no other time, then when we leave this mortal coil!

The key is not to tie contentment to changeable things.   For it to rest secure, contentment must be anchored into something that is never replaced . Perhaps (Scottish Theologian) Sinclair Ferguson sums it up best:
 "Christian contentment…is the direct fruit of having no higher ambition 
  than to belong to the Lord and to be totally at His disposal in the
  place He appoints, at the time He chooses, with the provisions He is
  pleased to make."

What more could we truly desire?"