The Learned Secret of Contentment

Paul wrote one of the happiest letters in the Bible from prison. He was in chains, waiting to hear whether he would be executed. His friends in Philippi had sent him a gift of money, and he wrote to thank them. In the middle of his thank-you note he said something remarkable:

“I do not say this because I am going short. However things stand with me, I have learned to be content. I know how to get by on little, and I know how to handle having plenty. In each and every situation I have been let into the secret: how to eat my fill and how to go hungry, how to have more than enough and how to do without. I have strength for every situation in the one who makes me strong.” (Philippians 4:11-13)

Twice Paul uses the language of learning. “I have learned to be content.” “I have been let into the secret.” Contentment was not something Paul was born with. It wasn’t a personality type. It was a skill he had learned, and it was learned in a hard school.

Contentment is not

It is worth being clear about what contentment is not.

It is not laziness. Paul worked hard, often making tents through the night so he wouldn’t be a burden on the churches. A contented person can still have goals and work toward them.

It is not pretending. Paul didn’t pretend he wasn’t hungry when he was. He names his hunger plainly. Contentment is not putting on a brave face.

It is not settling for injustice. The Bible is full of cries for justice for the poor. A contented Christian can still work to change unfair systems, and should.

And it is not only for hard times. Notice that Paul says he learned to be content in plenty as well as in need. Plenty has its own temptations: pride, self-reliance, forgetting God. Being content with much means not being owned by it, and not needing more.

Contentment is

So what is it? Contentment is a settled peace in God that doesn’t depend on circumstances. It is the ability to say, whatever my bank balance says, “I have enough, because I have God.”

The writer of Hebrews links it directly to God’s presence: “Be satisfied with what you have. For God Himself has said, ‘I will not ever let you go, and I will never, never abandon you’” (Hebrews 13:5). We can be content because we are never alone. Whatever we lack, we have Him.

There is an old prayer in Proverbs that says this beautifully:

“Keep falsehood and lies far away from me; give me neither poverty nor wealth, but feed me with the bread I need each day, so that I do not have too much and disown you, asking, ‘Who is the LORD?’ or have too little and steal, and so bring disgrace on my God’s name.” (Proverbs 30:8-9)

Look at that request: “Give me neither poverty nor wealth.” How many people have ever prayed that? Most of us pray to be spared poverty, but we would quite like to try wealth. The writer is wise enough to see that both are dangerous. Too much, and he might forget God. Too little, and he might be tempted to steal. So he asks for just enough: “the bread I need each day.” It is the same prayer Jesus taught us: “Give us today the bread we need” (Matthew 6:11).

How Paul learned it

How does anyone learn contentment? Paul tells us the secret in the next sentence: “I have strength for every situation in the one who makes me strong.” People often quote that verse as if it were about winning a race or passing an exam. But in context, it is about being content when you’re hungry. Christ is the one who gives the strength to be at peace with little, and the strength to stay humble with much.

Here are some of the lessons in that school.

Remember you will leave it all behind. “For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it” (1 Timothy 6:7). The old saying is that a funeral hearse never tows a trailer. If you can’t keep it, don’t let it keep you.

Compare downward, not upward. Most of our discontent comes from comparing ourselves with people who have more. Most of the world lives on far less than most readers of this book. Comparison with those who have less turns discontent into gratitude.

Count your blessings, literally. Write them down. The very act of naming God’s gifts reorders the heart.

Pray your worries. “Do not worry about anything. Instead, in everything, bring your requests to God through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving. And God’s peace, which is beyond all our understanding, will stand guard over your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). Notice that contentment and peace come through prayer with thanksgiving.

Simplify. Sometimes the way to contentment is to need less. Every possession needs to be stored, cleaned, insured, repaired and eventually thrown away. Fewer things can mean more freedom.

Godliness with contentment

Paul told Timothy that “godliness is indeed great gain, when it comes with contentment” (1 Timothy 6:6). There is a kind of religion that is used to get rich. Paul had just warned against people who “think godliness is a way to make money” (1 Timothy 6:5). He turns it around. Godliness really is great gain, but not financial gain. The real profit is a godly life with a contented heart. That is a wealth no market crash can touch.

A well-known psalm says it another way: “The little that the righteous own is worth more than the plenty of many wicked people” (Psalm 37:16). And Proverbs: “Better to have little and fear the LORD than great riches with trouble” (Proverbs 15:16).

A voice from the past

In The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan has his pilgrims pass through the Valley of Humiliation, a lowly place most travellers fear. There they meet a shepherd boy in poor clothes with a fresh, happy face, singing to himself. Bunyan’s guide says that boy “wears more of that herb called heart’s-ease in his bosom” than people dressed in silk and velvet. This is the boy’s song:

“I am content with what I have, Little be it or much; And, Lord, contentment still I crave, Because thou savest such.”

John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress

Practice this week

Take Proverbs 30:8-9 and pray it every day this week, slowly, meaning it. Then, at the end of each day, write down three things God gave you that day that you would not want to lose. By the end of the week you will have twenty-one.

For groups

• Paul says he “learned” contentment. What experiences in your life have taught you contentment, or failed to?
• Is it harder for you to be content with little or with much? Why?
• Read Proverbs 30:8-9. Could you honestly pray “Give me neither poverty nor wealth”? What makes it hard?
• What is one thing you could simplify in your life to need less?