The secret to contentment

Philippians 4:10-14

¹⁰ How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. ¹¹ Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. ¹² I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. ¹³ For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. ¹⁴ Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty.

In a modern, consumer world, contentment can be illusory. Situations such as missing out on that promotion, being retrenched, waiting on a visa can all mess with our contentment.

Our contentment as Christians should not be dependant on what we have, what we do or where we live. Even as we bump along on “rock bottom” we can have contentment says Paul. He of course was imprisoned and from his words in chapter 3, seemed to have been expecting death at the end. How could he be content?

Paul views his imprisonment and hardships as a sacrifice – for the gospel. In this way he is participating in the suffering of Jesus (Philippians 3 v 10 – “to know the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings”.) He saw a purpose in being imprisoned. It was a situation where he could have felt abandoned by God, like God had moved on and finished with him. A situation a bit like how I feel sometimes when things don’t seem to go right, when situations aren’t resolved or unravel before my eyes, when people I love choose a path I never wanted for them. Paul even seems to suggest in v 12 that “having plenty” can be a source of discontent. At times like these, how is contentment (when my needs are met, and I am calm; when I have hope) even possible?

The Stoics who were a popular movement around the apostle Paul’s time believed contentment or inner calm was derived from inner strength found in intellect and attention to what they could control. Maybe today we would call this self-reliance, resilience.

Paul puts forward and lived out another way – not strength from within but from “him who gives me strength” v 13. Christ’s power by the Holy Spirit rests on us – 2 Corinthians 9:11; Colossians 1:11. We are strengthened by all the power of God, to enable us to be content in any situation. That power raised Jesus from the dead. I would rather depend on that power than just my inner strength. A power that transforms lives and gives hope when there is none.

I pray the result will be not just a contentment but a witness for Jesus, a secret to be shared.

Dear Lord Jesus, you promised that if I remain in you, you will be in me, dwelling in me richly and making me fruitful. Today I ask that your Holy Spirit bring me contentment, knowing that your power will sustain me in situations of darkness and struggle. Amen

Written by Claire Moore