The Secret of Contentment by Helen Lescheid

In our world we’re bombarded with advertisements that promise us contentment if we’ll get more stuff–bigger, better, faster.

But reality is: the more comfortable we are, the more we have lost the capacity to be content. Things do not live up to our expectation to make us happy. We become disgruntled when we get less than we feel we deserve. If we do things right, happiness will follow we think. But life is made up of joys and sorrows.

In the midst of all kinds of trials (which he did not deserve!) Paul says “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…I can do everything through him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:12, 13).

The Amplified Bible says, “I am ready for anything and equal to anything through him who infuses inner strength into me.”

Paul did not expect an easy life. He rejoiced that the gospel was being preached. Keeping his focus on His Sovereign Lord and what he was here for, he could be content in every situation.
Contentment is something Paul had to learn and we also have to learn. “I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little.” he writes. How? The key to being content in any and every situation is in looking to Jesus not our circumstances. Corrie ten Boom says it so well:

Look around and be distressed
Look within and be depressed
Look to Jesus and be at rest.

Lord Jesus, thank you for providing for me the resources I need to be content in every situation.