Content in Christনমুনা

What Is Contentment?

Have you heard about contentment, and about what it means to be content?

Contentment is not a word used frequently nowadays as people are immersed in their day-by-day routine. But let me tell you an old story.

It was in Great Britain. A woman was one of the cooks of a great castle. Talking about money, she just cried out one day, “I wish I had five pounds.” Well, the owner of the house heard that, and he came down. He was a generous man and he gave her five pounds. She walked into the next room and she said, “Why didn’t I ask for 10?” 

Isn’t that how our hearts are, sometimes? We get exactly what we ask for, and then we think, “Well, I also want this.” We get something here and we want something there. 

We all have needs: financial needs, health needs, relational needs, and the list goes on. We cannot always see clearly what our real need is. For example, our lives changed in just a second because of a tiny virus that shifted our perspective. Can you be content about an uncertain future? Are you content in the partial isolation we are in?

In the book of Philippians in the Bible, the Apostle Paul talks about how to deal with uncertainty and find contentment. At the time, Paul was in a prison cell. He was chained, yet he wrote, “Don’t be anxious about anything. It will be better if you pray and make your requests known to God.” Also, he said that he had learned to be content in whatever circumstances he found himself. He was a scholar and a teacher; he was praised wherever he went. From prison, he said, “I have learned to be content, no matter what my circumstances are.”

Contentment is not complacency and it is rarely learned when things are going great. The secret of contentment is not wanting or having more. It is, as Paul suggests, to actually want what you have, and to realize that God has given you all that you need. We can feel confident in Him. Jesus Christ is your Creator and your God, and He takes care of you all the time.