We acknowledge that in the folly of our proud hearts, we so often approach your word as though our own natural levels of intelligence and our ability to read were sufficient in themselves to pave the way of understanding.
10. “But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. 11. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.”
Paul’s final commands to the Philippians are actually over by verses 1-9. What marvelous truths we learned! Now, in verses 10-20, he thanks the Philippians for the gifts they have sent him. If we think we may not find deep truths here, we are dead wrong. If so far we have seen silver, now there is a gold mine of truth that can transform our lives. In this personal thank-you note, Paul gives us one of the richest truths in all of the word of God about how a Christian should see his worldly material situation in life. The golden key word in the passage that shines with gold is contentment. It is a very, very rich word.
We all live as discontent people living discontented lives. One reason for that is we live in a discontented society. In fact, the more you have, the more you grow in discontent. The whole work of the TV and mobile advertisement industry is to fill us with discontent. Did you know that is the goal of all advertising? If they cannot make you discontent, the program is a failure. The whole design of the program is to create discontent in your heart. They bring a white model girl and ask, “Why are you dark? You can become like me. Use our cream, just only 4999 rupees.” “Your husband or wife doesn’t love you? Use our perfume; they will take you on a honeymoon again.” They create social fear: “If you don’t wear a dress from their brand, your friends will make fun of you; they will isolate you.” They create disease fear: “If you eat this, you’ll get that disease, so eat only what we sell—100% organic.” If we are in a rented house, we ask, “Why a rented house?” If we own a house, we ask, “Why a small house?” If we own a big house, we ask, “Why only one house? You don’t have a house on a hill station for the summer heat?” And on and on.
You laugh, but that is what they are doing to you daily on TV and mobile. They have to somehow make you discontent so you will go out and buy their product, which they say will make you content. But once you buy it, you realize you have become more discontent again. They don’t care about that. Their job is to create a non-existent need you didn’t know you had and to drive you by that need to buy something. Once we buy, we realize we have bought one more thing we may never use in our busy lives. We see the result of this in high consumer debt. We aren’t content with what we have and haven’t learned to live within our means, so we go beyond that and get into big debts. We suffer 101 worries and anxieties from the pressure of paying all our loans.
Okay, we suffer this torture in the world. At least let us go to church to listen to God’s word. But what do these false teachers and false churches do? Instead of teaching God’s word, they make us more discontent with their prosperity preaching and “felt-need” preaching.
For hearts tortured on every side by all this heat of discontent, we come to an oasis today and learn about the wonderful truth of divine contentment from a man sitting in jail. We will see verses 10-13 today in two headings.
Paul’s Great Rejoicing
Imagine Paul is in prison. He is not sure of the outcome; he may die at any time. The Roman church is not supporting him, and so many are scared to help him. It’s a horrible jail situation: he is alone, chained by the wrist to a Roman soldier, with no freedom. With every movement, there is the clanking of chains. Can you think of how many needs he may have? He is just surviving on bare necessities, maybe one meal a day. Imagine jail food is just porridge and a little water, with a shared, smelly toilet. He is living in a difficult, low situation and has none of life’s facilities. This situation gives him the perfect environment to demonstrate his contentment.
One day, he may be sitting and meditating when he hears the boots of a Roman soldier. He hears the turning of the key in the door, the squeak of the hinges, and the soldier’s steps. As the apostle turns, he notices that the Roman soldier is accompanied by another man, and to his amazement, he recognizes his dear friend Epaphroditus, who has been sent from the church at Philippi. Paul leaps up from where he is sitting, they hug, and they wish each other well. Then Epaphroditus opens his bag, and there is food, clothes, other essential items, and a good amount of money in coins. The Philippian church has sent him the things he needed for maybe a year. Now, after he finishes his letter, in verses 10-20, he thanks them for these gifts. We have to learn from the Apostle Paul how to thank people.
Notice what he says: “But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly.” Rejoicing itself is a big joy, as we studied on Friday, but here he says he rejoiced greatly. If we were there in jail with jail food and 101 needs, seeing all these gifts, we would rejoice because of the gifts. But that is not what Paul says. The cause of his joy is not the gifts. Notice in verse 10: “now at last your care for me has flourished again.”
The word “flourished” is a beautiful horticultural term that means “to bloom again.” When you think a plant is almost dead, suddenly it blossoms, grows, and bears flowers and fruits. What a joy to see that! That’s exactly the concept Paul uses here. It had been about 10 years since he heard from the Philippians. He was always thinking and praying for them. They had once helped him when he was in Macedonia, as he tells them in verse 15. But after that, it had been 10 years now, with no news from them. Now, after 10 years, they are sending this help. He tells them that the cause of his joy is that after a lengthy period of time, their care for him has blossomed and expressed itself practically by sending these gifts. He says the source of this joy is not humanitarian care, but he says, “I rejoice again” in the Lord, because this care is because of their common bond and union with Christ.
He commanded “rejoice in the Lord,” and now he is showing how he is rejoicing in the Lord. I rejoice because when Epaphroditus came and opened his bag and showed me all the gifts you sent—food, clothes, and coins—I didn’t just see the gifts. I saw the very grace of Christ implanted in the hearts of the Philippians hundreds of miles away, which created a genuine concern for the well-being of the apostle. He saw in those coins nothing less than the very love of Jesus Christ, mediated through the care and love of the Philippians. That is why, though the gifts were ordinary, they gave him not just a tickle to his senses or temporary animal pleasure, but great rejoicing in the Lord.
He said the blossoming of your care is now after so long, lest the Philippians think he is rebuking them for waiting so long to express their care. See how Paul tactfully says in verse 10, “though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity.” He puts the best impression upon the fact that 10 years passed since they expressed their care. “The plant of your care was always alive, but the providence of God did not give you the opportunity. But now, the opportunity came when I am in jail, and I see it blossoming so beautifully.” So that is Paul’s great rejoicing.
Paul’s Great Contentment
That is the main theme for today.
Verse 11 says, “Not that I speak in regard to need.” He says, “When I say I greatly rejoiced seeing your care, don’t misunderstand me. My joy was not the result of the negation of my state of need or destitution.” He explains, “Because long before Epaphroditus came with your gifts, I learned a fundamental lesson.” Paul, what was that lesson? Verse 11: “for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” So when Epaphroditus came, I was not discouraged, sad, or self-pitying, questioning God’s goodness and providence because I am in a dirty, smelly jail. I had only one set of clothes, saltless jail food, and my purse was empty. No. When Epaphroditus came through the jail door, he saw a man full of joy and contentment. So when I saw your gifts, I didn’t rejoice, thinking about how they would remove all my poverty. No, I saw something else that made me rejoice so greatly. “I am not speaking of my needs, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.”
Then, in verse 12, he explains and amplifies his contentment in three sets of stark contrasts. First, verse 12: “I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” These are three contrasts: abased versus abound, full versus hungry, and abound versus suffer need. One is the height of having all of one’s needs met. The other is the depths of poverty. In the midst of those great contrasting realities in the providence of God, I have learned to be content.
He says, “I have learned.” This is not something he naturally had, but even the great apostle had to learn. He uses a word used in mystery religions for secrets that only a few attain. He borrows that word to show the rare blessedness of this gift. “I have learned a great mystery, a divine secret of contentment.” If we ask, “From which teacher did you learn, Paul, and which school did you learn it from?” He might say, “God is my teacher, and the providence of God is my school where I learned this. God taught me this in his providence, sometimes by abasing me and sometimes by making me abound, by making me full and hungry, by making me abound and suffer need.” When God gave him an abundance, Paul was not thinking, “Oh, no, I have to always be poor and begging.” No, he was content and enjoyed that prosperous providence. When the same school of providence brought poverty, he learned to be content.
I want to spend the remaining time today and maybe next week talking about how you and I can learn to be content. This is not only given here as a good virtue from Paul’s example, but it is also given as a command for us. Hebrews 13:5 says, “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with whatever you have, for He said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.'”
First, a caution: Whatever truth we learn, the sin in us will make us abuse it. We should be watchful. When I say we should be content, it doesn’t mean we should use this truth to justify our laziness. “Oh, I am content, so I will not work hard and earn.” As Christians, we can work to better our circumstances as we have the opportunity. The Bible extols hard work and the rewards that come from it, as long as we are free from greed. It doesn’t mean we should be content with our sinful state if we are not saved, or as a saved person, we should be content with our sanctification. Don’t abuse this truth.
So how do we learn contentment from Paul? What are the secrets, Paul? We will learn a few. We will only see the first one today. The first secret of learning contentment is to learn to completely trust in God’s providence as a child. Look, the reason this man was so content was because he knew that the situations, times, facilities, and opportunities of life were controlled by a sovereign God in his providence. He truly believed every single thing that happened in his life came from the wise providence of God. That patient confidence in God’s sovereign providence gave him contentment.
You can talk about the reformed, sovereign providence doctrine, but until you learn to trust in God’s providence in a really practical way and understand that God is ordering every single thing in every situation of your life for your good, you will never be content. Until you understand that, you will always be discontent because you will take on the responsibility to organize and order your own life, and you will frustrate yourself if you can’t control everything. You will never know a contented heart until you believe that a sovereign God is ordering everything for your good. The foundation for contentment starts there.
What is contentment? We can simply say that contentment is that inner sense of rest or peace that comes from knowing God is behind all that happens in our lives, from the smallest to the greatest. God has placed us in our station, and He has done it in wisdom. If God grants us material comforts, we can thankfully enjoy them, knowing that it all comes from His loving hand. If He takes our riches, our joy remains steady because we believe He has done it for our great good. So no matter what happens to us or what others do to us, we have the steady assurance that the Lord is behind all this and that He controls all things.
Discontent comes when we want to control everything. Trust in God’s providence is a great countermeasure against all discontent. Why does discontent come? Because we imagine that such a condition of life is good for us. How do we know that? We don’t have all the wisdom of God. Most often, what we think is good may be the worst for us. Lot thought Sodom was the best place for his family, but he destroyed his family by going there.
When we realize what sin has done to us, as depraved, diseased patients, it is wise to be under the control of a wise physician. For believers, life is a sanctification treatment. He knows what treatment is good for us. God, in His infinite wisdom, sees that the same condition is not best for all; that which is good for one may be bad for another. Prosperity is not fit for all, nor is poverty fit for all. Many have not learned how to have an abundance. When they become rich, they become very proud and arrogant and destroy their souls. Some who are very poor completely despair and stop trusting God. “I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound.”
The wise God orders our condition. If He sees it is better for us to abound, we shall abound. If He sees it is better for us to be in need, we shall be in need. The wise God sees that a condition that is bad for one is good for another. Therefore, He places people in different spheres and situations, some higher and some lower. One person desires health, but God sees sickness is better for him. God will work spiritual health out of physical sickness by bringing the body of death into a sickness. Another person desires freedom, like Paul, but God sees it is better to keep him in jail. He will work his liberty by keeping him in jail. If we believe this, it would prevent so much discontent, sinful disputes, and murmuring against God.
So, the first secret of contentment is full trust in God’s providence. There is a book by Thomas Watson called The Art of Divine Contentment. It is an amazing book, and I will encourage you to read it. Knowing that most of you may not be able to because you don’t have it in your language, I want to share a few things from that book as an application today.
We will look at two things from it: a few objections people make about why they cannot be content and a few encouragements to seek contentment in our lives. A few objections: Imagine one person after another comes to me after this sermon and says, “I cannot be content because…”
“Pastor, why do sinners and unbelievers prosper in wealth and also have good health? Why do we, as believers, live sometimes in poverty, from hand to mouth, and even have sickness and suffer?” David had this discontent in Psalm 73:3: “I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked!”
Against this false teaching, God has not promised to give all of His children riches and health in this world. That is not a Christian’s portion. They are luxuries rather than essentials. But He has promised to meet all our needs in this life. But He has promised infinite, eternal riches for us. We should stop thinking worldly goods are the only best things God gives. They are mere temporal blessings. These are but the fruit skins with which God feeds swine! He blesses believers with the true fruit inside.
In this world, even if we have little, God can bless a little. It is better to have a little with God’s blessing than a lot with God’s curse. It is a known fact that those who have more become less grateful. There are people who murmur while sitting at a feast, while a poor Christian praises and thanks God with tears for a little simple food. Others may have more wealth than you, but they also have more worry. They may have more riches, but less rest. More income brings more expenses.
David realizes in Psalm 73 that when thinking of the purpose of this life, his sanctification, his destiny, and their end, instead of envying the rich, he pitied them. They may have riches or health, but this is all the heaven they will have! They are fed as sheep to be slaughtered. The most foolish thing is to envy a man who will fry and burn in hell.
Why are you poor? God’s wise providence may see that riches may not be good for your soul at this time, so he keeps you in this state. Oh, some Christian argued, “No, first let him give me riches. I will see how it is not good.” Okay, God gave him great riches, and he became so proud and he made riches his great idol in life. His mind could never truly pray, and he had no heart to meditate. We all know how money can change a man. He started always thinking of his investments, wealth, this business, and that business. It not only destroyed his soul but even his health. So before a load could sink the ship, God was forced to throw that wealth and estate into the sea to save the passenger. He was brought to poverty again. Will we be happy if he does that for us? But how painful to get riches, realize we cannot handle it, and shamefully lose it, instead of wisely submitting to his wise providence.
The Bible calls it the deceitfulness of riches. Are you discontent that God is saving you from that deceit? Those who want to be rich fall into a snare. Are you troubled that God has prevented a snare? Riches are thorns (Matthew 13:7). Are you angry because God has pulled away a thorn from you? Riches are compared to “thick clay” (Habakkuk 2:6). If you fix your desires on them, the feet of your soul might have stuck so fast in this golden clay that they could not have ascended up to heaven. Now, with whatever he has already given you, you do not run the ways of God’s commandments fast. If he tied your legs with golden weights, you cannot imagine how much you would grow spiritually.
Do we know how many millions of souls are cursing their riches in hell because it destroyed their souls and kept them in a deceitful enchantment that never allowed their heart to seek God? Praise God he has not cursed you with great riches and abandoned you!
Think, isn’t this state of life, or even with needs and poverty, what helps you to grow and become rich in faith, helps you to become more poor in spirit, more humble, more dependent on God? Isn’t it not times of emptiness that we pray more, read more, and come closer to God? You never had such comforts of the Spirit, joy, and peace if you had more riches than what Providence has given you. So be content—you may not have temporary riches, but you are gaining eternal riches.
So be content. Oh, think how many mercies you still enjoy. He has not made us beg for food, but regularly meets our needs, and even blesses us more than we need. Yet your base hearts are more discontented than being thankful for a hundred mercies! God has promised you eternal, unfading, imperishable, unblemished riches. Be like Mary who has chosen the better part, which shall not be taken from her.
- Another person asks, “Pastor, my sickness makes me discontent.” Sickness is part of the fallen world. We will all face it. God will work spiritual health out of physical sickness. He uses that for our sanctification, so as children of God we need to learn to accept it as part of his will. Consider, one, your sufferings are not as great as your sins! Put these two in the balance and see which weighs heaviest. Where sin lies heavy, sufferings lie light. We all say, “Never has anyone suffered as I have done!” But how many say, “Never has anyone sinned as I have done!”
- Another says, “Pastor, I have no respect in the world. Even in my own family, no respect. It fills me with discontent.” Consider, one, the world’s esteem and praise is selfish, partial, and a wrong judgment. It gives esteem not on the basis of a person’s true worth. Today the world may speak wrongly of a person and tomorrow praise the same person. What the world thought low, history praises such men. He who is esteemed by the world is hated by God. So do not allow that to make you discontent. Be content that God has valued you so much in grace. His judgment is most worth prizing. He has put your name in the book of life. God will give whole kingdoms for your ransom. More than that, he has redeemed you by the blood of his son. A believer is a person of honor, being born of God: adopted, an heir of God. Let the world think what they will of you. Perhaps in their eyes, you are useless, but in God’s eyes, you are a precious pearl. Be content. Don’t care.
- “Pastor, I don’t want riches. But I have sorrow in my family and relations. Where I should find the most comfort, there I have the most grief!” For example, “My children are not listening, are rebellious and have not believed yet and are saved. They seem to be going on the wrong path. I fear they may go to hell. What will happen to their future?” Yes, it is a painful thing for a mother, worse than her pangs of travail! But though you ought to be humbled and pray about this regularly, do not be discontented. God’s providence may be teaching you something from such a child. The child’s sin is sometimes the parent’s sermon. It may teach us how long God was patient with us. Even after he saved us, how much we resist the Holy Spirit. He keeps commanding us again and again, but we walk in disobedience. How we keep hearing so much of God’s commands and we never obey. What rebellious children we are to God. The providence of God sometimes uses our children to remind us of our stubborn disobedience and to sanctify us. God could be using your child to bring you more to repentance and obedience.
Yes, to see children unbelieving is painful, but it is not our sin. If you have taught them God’s truth from a young age and set an example for them, you can do no more. We cannot save our children; only God can do that. See, here we try to become God. “What about their future?” as if everything happens because of us. As if we birthed them and we decide their future. We cannot save them. We can only lay the wood together; it is God who must make it burn. If a child, having the light of conscience, Scripture, and education—these three torches in his hand—yet runs willfully into the deep ponds of sin? Weep for your child, pray for him, but do not sin for him by discontent. Wait on God. God can change the worst child. Saint Augustine was becoming like this, and his mother Monica was weeping for her son. At last, God saved him, and he became a famous instrument in the church of God.
- “But Pastor, my husband or wife, who should be honey, because of unbelief is a bitter sting in my life.” Yes, it is sad, but do not allow this to fill your heart with discontent. Mourn for his sins, but do not murmur. For, one, the providence of God has placed you in your relation, and if you are discontented, you quarrel with God and question the infinite wisdom of God. God can use your husband’s or wife’s unbelief as a great means for your sanctification and to make you more like Christ. Think, perhaps you would have never been so good if he had not been so bad. The fire burns hottest in the coldest climate. God often, by a divine chemistry, turns the sins of others to our good. The more profane the husband is, often the more holy the wife grows. The more earthly he is, the more heavenly she grows. God sometimes makes the husband’s sin a spur to the wife’s grace. Is it not thus? Does not your husband’s wickedness send you to prayer? You perhaps would have never prayed so much if he had not sinned so much. His stony heart is a hammer to break your heart and keeps it humble. The apostle says, “the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the believing husband” (1 Corinthians 7:14); the reverse is also true. So pray for your unbelieving wife or husband, but do not make that a reason to murmur in discontent with God’s providence. He can change them. So these are objections. If you have more objections, meet me separately.
Motivations to Seek Contentment
Finally, there are ten motivations to seek contentment. Let me give you five today, and five more next time.
I. Consider the EXCELLENCE of contentment. Would you think it were excellent if I could prescribe a one-stop solution to all your problems in life, all your needs, sickness, and sins? Behold, contentment is the best solution for everything in your life. Contentment is a remedy against all our troubles, a relief to all our burdens, and the cure for every worry.
You should seek contentment because, firstly, contentment makes us heavenly citizens on earth. A contented Christian carries heaven with him wherever he goes. You can see heaven in his face, words, and actions. For, what is heaven, but that sweet repose and full contentment that the soul shall have in God? The first-fruits of heaven is contentment.
You see the face and behavior of such a contented person, and something of heaven is seen there. An image of God is seen. Oh, what sweetness and pleasantness of face, words, and behavior, like a calm, undisturbed sea. So different from the whole discontented world, with hearts like a rough, tempestuous sea, not content at all, always rough. “I want that and that and this. I don’t have that and this.” What a life, always murmuring. The expression of discontent is in the face, words, and murmurs. When the water is rough, you cannot see anything but only tossing, disturbance, murmuring, and bitter emotions. Nothing of heaven is in that picture. But when the water is smooth and serene, then you may behold your face in the water. When the heart is calm and content and smooth, there is a face shining there. You may see something of a reflection of heaven in that face. Oh, the rare art; it is a miracle of contentment!
- Heavenly rest and peace are there. Oh, what a peace is kept in a contented heart! What a heaven! A contented Christian is like Noah in the ark. Though the ark was tossed with waves and the world was sinking, Noah could sit and sing in the ark. The soul that has gotten into the ark of contentment sits quiet and sails above all the waves of trouble. He can sing in this spiritual ark. His heart is fixed and unshakable, though circumstances may change with the wind of providence. The heart is settled through holy contentment, and when others are shaking and trembling in times of trouble, the contented spirit can say, as David, “O God, my heart is fixed!” (Psalm 57:7). What is this but a piece of heaven?
Second excellence: Contentment makes us the richest people in the world. The richest person in this world is not who has more money, but who can say, “I lack nothing.” Only a contented person can say that. A Christian may lack the comforts that others have, such as land and possessions, but God has instilled into his heart that divine contentment which is far better. This breeds such joy in the soul as is infinitely sweeter than possessing all houses and lands. Wicked people are often sad and disquieted in the enjoyment of all things, but the contented Christian is joyful in the lack of all things! Christian contentment is not a mad, empty thing. He finds contentment in the promises of God. He is poor in purse, but rich in promise. He knows he has a God who will meet all his needs, knowing wherever God has kept him is the best place to be. Resting satisfied with the promise fills his heart with contentment.
Third excellence: Contentment makes a person fit and in tune to serve God like angels. See, the root cause in our life for all poor service is discontent. It hinders us from serving God. But contentment oils the wheels of the soul and makes it more agile and nimble. Contentment prepares and tunes the heart. It composes the heart so wonderfully and makes it fit for prayer, meditation, etc. Prayer and meditation all come naturally. “How can he who is filled with grief or discontent pray or read or worship the Lord without distraction?” When the thoughts are scattered and distracted about the cares of this life, a person is not fit for devotion or the service of God.
Discontent takes the heart wholly off from God and fixes it upon the present trouble, so that a person’s mind is not upon his prayer but upon his trouble. Discontent distracts us from all spiritual duty and makes our soul out of order. It disjoints the soul, and it is impossible for a Christian to serve God with eagerness and cheerfully in that state. Oh, how lame is his devotion! The discontented person gives God but a half-duty, and his religion is nothing but an external exercise; it lacks any life.
There are some duties which we cannot perform as we ought, without contentment, such as: one, to rejoice in God. How can he rejoice who is discontented? He is more fit for complaining and repining than rejoicing. Two, to be gentle to all people. Can a discontented person be gentle? He can be fretful, cruel, and bitter, not gentle. Three, to be free from anxiety, and justify God in his proceedings. How can he do this who is discontented with his condition? He will sooner censure and find fault with God’s wisdom than clear his justice. Oh then, how excellent is contentment, which does prepare, and as it were, string the heart for duty? Indeed, contentment does not only make our duties light and agile but acceptable to God. It is this that puts beauty and worth into them.
Fourth excellence: Contentment makes us bold and strong to bear anything in life. It is the spiritual pillar of the soul. He will be a very courageous person. It fits a man to bear any burdens. He who has a contented heart is invincible under sufferings. Thus, holy contentment keeps the heart from discouragement and fainting. Contentment is the golden shield, which beats back all discouragements. Contentment is the great under-prop. It is like the steel beam, which bears whatever weight is laid upon it. In fact, it is astonishing to observe the same affliction lying upon two people, and how differently they respond to it. The contented Christian is like Samson; nothing can overcome him, and he overcomes everything. He will not bend even with a big burden on him. The other person, with even small things, will bend and be discouraged. The reason is a discontented heart magnifies problems and increases grief tenfold, breaks the heart, and drains all strength. Contentment makes a person bold like a lion.
Fifth excellence: Contentment is a spiritual antidote against sin. If you have been searching for a weapon to fight sin, contentment prevents many sins and temptations.
First, contentment prevents many temptations and sins. Think of it, what is the root cause of all sin, even original sin? A discontent with a God-given state. Where contentment is lacking, there is no lack of sin! If you study all your sins, the numberless number of them, however they are twisted together, you can trace discontent as the mother which gives birth to all other sins. Think of internal sins. Think of the great sin of murmuring, quarreling with God, saying he has done wrong, he is foolish. What is the cause of murmuring which destroyed the Israelites? Discontent. It is impossible for a contented person to murmur. Think of other sins: covetousness, lust, envy, and anger. All are born out of discontent.
Not only heart and internal sins, but external sins. A discontented person will always use wrong means and ways. If you are very discontented about your poverty, you will do everything, even go to the devil, for riches! Satan takes great advantage of discontent. Just like an advertiser, he is a great advertiser who creates discontent in our heart, just like he did with the heart of Eve, and with Cain to kill his brother, and he even entered Judas’s discontented heart to betray the Son of God.
A discontented heart is an open door through which he always enters your heart. How easily can he, by his logic, dispute a discontented Christian into sin? “You are now in great need, therefore it is right to do it,” just like he said to our Lord, “make these stones into bread.” He tempts to the forbidden fruit. “What?” says he, “do you lack a livelihood? Never be such a fool as to starve. Take this route, don’t think good or bad.” Discontent both eclipses reason and weakens faith!
It may even make us doubt God and even lead to apostasy. “Surely, there is no God to take care of things here below! Would he allow his holy people to be in need?” says discontent. “Throw off your confidence in Christ. Reject your religion!” Thus, Job’s wife, being discontented with her condition, says to her husband, “Do you still retain your integrity?” Here was a sore temptation, which the devil handed over to Job by his discontented wife.
If discontent is the root of all sin, then imagine how excellent is contentment, which is a counterpoise against all these sins!
So my brothers, I have given you five motivations to seek contentment. I hope it has encouraged your heart to learn and practice this divine art. Oh, it has filled my heart with bliss. We will continue to learn more about contentment next week.
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 