There was an airline pilot flying over the Tennessee mountains and pointed out a lake to his copilot. “See that little lake?” he said. “When I was a kid I used to sit in a rowboat down there, fishing. Every time a plane would fly overhead, I’d look up and wish I was flying it. Now I look down and wish I was in a rowboat, fishing.”
Contentment can be an elusive pursuit. We go after what we think will make us happy and content only to get it and find out that it didn’t work.
Our nation shows our lack of contentment in many ways, such as our high divorce rate. We get married and realize it isn’t everything we thought it was going to be and that it is hard work, so we throw in the towel and quit.
Our nation is characterized by debt, which is often a lack of contentment with what we have and a lack of patience to save to get what we think we want or need. We switch homes, addresses, jobs, friends and churches trying to find contentment. We sue each other at an astonishing rate. We buy lottery tickets that we can’t afford. These can all be evidences of discontent.
Paul wrote many of the books of the New Testament while in prison. He knew what suffering was (see 2 Corinthians 11:23-29), and yet, he says he learned how to be content no matter what his situation in life was.
Philippians 4:10-13 says, “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
Paul learned that contentment is an inner sense of rest or peace that comes from being right with God and knowing that He is in control of all that happens to us.
There was a Jewish man in Hungary who went to his rabbi and complained, “Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?” The rabbi answered, “Take your goat into the room with you.”
The man was incredulous, but the rabbi insisted, “Do as I say and come back in a week.” A week later the man returned looking more distraught than before. “We can’t stand it,” he told the rabbi. “The goat is filthy.”
The rabbi said, “Go home and let the goat out, and come back in a week.” A week later the man returned, radiant, exclaiming, “Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there’s no goat – only the nine of us.”
What changed for the man? They started with nine in one room, and ended with nine in one room. But he went from saying life is unbearable to saying life is beautiful. So what changed? His attitude. He learned that life could get worse and that he should be thankful for what they had.
Life is hard at times. We all have difficulties and trials that are real and painful, and they will not go away until we get to heaven. Being content does not disregard or diminish these struggles, but rather rises above them to have an eternal perspective that focuses on God and our Savior Jesus Christ, so that we can say, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”
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