Daily Encouragement: Day 339

Adapted from Handbook to Spiritual Growth

THE SECRET OF CONTENTMENT

Most of us live more in the future than in the present. Somehow we think that the days ahead will make up for what we perceive to be our present lack. We think, “When I get this or when that happens, then I’ll be happy,” but this is an exercise in self-deception that overlooks the fact that even when we get what we want, it never delivers what it promised.

Writing from prison to the believers in Philippi, Paul affirmed that “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need” (Philippians 4:11–12).

Similarly, Paul told Timothy, “We have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content” (1 Timothy 6:7–8).

And Job echoed the Apostle’s message, saying, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

Only when we allow Christ to determine the content of our lives can we discover the secret of contentment. As we learn this secret, we will be less impressed by numbers, less driven to achieve, less hurried, and more alive to the grace of the present moment.