Could God's statement, "Godliness with contentment is great gain," have been written for our day and time? If there has ever been a statement of principle that runs counter to the world's philosophy today, this is it. In our dog eat dog culture the secret to the success many advocate seems to be an unholy discontent. The way to get ahead is by hook or crook. Anything goes as long as it advances one's drive to gain power, popularity and material prosperity.
In our no holds barred culture, the end does often seem to always justify the means. The rungs of the ladder to the top are comprised of the backs of the less ambitious and less ruthless. Honesty and fair dealing are qualities to be sneered at and pitied in those weaklings who stumble along in an un-enlightened world of principle and integrity. It seems that success has been defined in the terms of materialism. That the more things a person accumulates the more contentment and happiness will bless his days. Excessive acquisition seems to be the name of the game. Success has somehow become synonymous with selfishness and is symbolized by covetousness. slogans such as "He who dies with the most toys wins." These seem to epitomize the foundation principles of such a culture. All this in spite of the fact that everyone knows that even the richest and most opulent fortunes are left behind when man meets his Maker in judgment. No one takes such seeming success to the scene that's seen beyond the shedding of the shell of this mortal vale. How much does he leave? He leaves it all. After all, have you ever seen a hearse pulling a trailer?
Could it be that our culture's redefinition of success and the basis of real contentment is a prime factor in the overwhelming increase of moral pollution and social ills we see all around us? Could it be that the tremendous increase of such indicators of .discontent as the so-called sex revolution, drug culture and the terrible youth suicide rate, can be attributed to a great degree to the false concept that contentment can only be found in fleeting popularity and material prosperity? The greatest challenge in the Christian's life today is to live in opposition to this philosophy. To reject the crass materialism that underlies it. To simply live in Godly contentment. To live in the light of the selfless cross rather than the shadow of the selfish floss and froth of our materialistic world today. To be able to say with Paul, "I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."
Dr. Paul Goodwin in his monograph, "Learning To Be Content," had this to say: "Paul writes of the best of all states, the state of contentment.... He had learned a heart lesson at the feet of Jesus and in the school of experience. Contentment is not found in a place or circumstance nor in a change of places or circumstances. Contentment is of the spirit. It comes from within and not from without. A contented spirit is like a watch which is moved up and down and around but is not disturbed on the inside. Rather it keeps on telling the correct time.”
The Christian can expect change. We live in a changing world, but we should not live under the changing circumstances. The word translated "content" means to be master of the situation, to be victor, conqueror of the circumstances. Paul lived contentedly in changing and contrasting circumstances. Contentment is one of life's greatest victories. Contentment is not a natural disposition. Paul stated he learned to be content. To be content requires effort and much discipline on the part of the one who wills to be content. We can learn a lesson from nature. Weeds, sometimes undesirable, will grow without cultivation, but flowers require cultivation. Contentment is worth cultivating. One does not get up some morning with a superb education. An education requires effort, intense application and concentration. Likewise, contentment does not suddenly appear in a mysterious and magical way. One does not go to bed complaining and wake up the next morning in a holy state of contentment. Paul learned to be content by working on his discontent. If we are ever to be content, we too will learn to be content.
Pastor John White
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