Contentment

This Sunday we will be wrapping up our study in the book of Philippians. I will be preaching this week covering Phil. 4:10-23.

We will be focusing on these words: "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

Wanting contentment is not wrong or sinful. If it were wrong, then Paul would be setting a very poor example to his fellow Christians telling them that he has learned the secret of being content. Our problem is not that we want contentment, but that we look for it in the wrong places. We pursue prosperity, fame, significance...we seek power & position, we pursue belonging, identity, affirmation, perfect health... and when one of these is out of whack for us we become discontent. In all these things we pursue, we hope to find contentment, but it’s fleeting, and it’s not really in these things.

The secret to contentment is not finding it in things but in a person - Jesus Christ. Staying connected to Jesus Christ is the secret of being content. When you’re living your life connected to Christ, you’ll begin to understand that nothing happens to your life without His knowledge. There is nothing that touches your life that is not first sifted through the hand of God. Nothing that happens, either good or bad, can take you away from God’s love and that knowledge brings contentment.