THE SECRET OF CONTENTMENT

"If your godliness has freed you from the desire to be rich and has helped you be content with what you have, then your godliness is tremendously profitable." -- John Piper

"Contentment is not only a good idea; it is our duty. If God recommends something, we ought to do it. As J. I. Packer has emphasized, contentment is both commended ('Godliness with contentment is great gain . . .') and commanded ('Be content with what you have . . .').

Such a forceful endorsement by the Almighty should make contentment a prominent concern for each of us. Instead we make it a secret concealed by our indifference to it. When the Apostle Paul wrote, 'I have learned the secret of being content,' his use of the word SECRET was intentional. Those things we expect to bring contentment surprisingly do not. We cannot depend on it to fall into place through the progressive evolving of civilization, for contentment arises from a different source.

Most of us do not know how to uncover this secret and, to be honest, have never seriously tried. Our quest is not for contentment but for MORE. This quest brings us into an immense maze, where before us lie dozens of avenues. Some are wide, luxurious, downhill, and tempting, and
we see a rush of our friends entering them. They lead to beautiful houses, comfortable cars, exotic vacations, and affluence. Other avenues, equally popular, lead to prestigious colleges, distinguished jobs, important friends, and power. Still others direct us to beautiful
spouses, beautiful children, deep tans, and popularity.

All the while, off to one side, courses a narrow uphill road, unadorned and unpopular. It is dusty from its sparse use and lonely from lack of travelers. The sole treasure at its end is an elusive commodity called 'godliness with contentment.'

Godliness is an attitude whereby what we want is to please God. Contentment, explains J. I. Packer, 'is essentially a matter of accepting from God's hand what He sends because we know that HE is good and therefore it is good.'

Contentment is the freedom that comes when prosperity or poverty do not matter. To accept what we have and "to want but little," as Thoreau advised. The more we choose contentment, the more God sets us free. The more He sets us free, the more we choose contentment."

from A MINUTE OF MARGIN by Dr. Richard Swenson . . . good words for this Friday, July 22, 2005. God bless you.