Have you earned a degree from the College of Contentment? Perhaps you are currently working on that degree.

A man by the name of Paul claimed to have learned the secret of being content no matter his circumstances. 

He said, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or want. I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.” 

That man was the Apostle Paul, and that part of his story can be found in the New Testament book of Philippians.

The Apostle Paul suffered great trials for the sake of Christ. He experienced many physical sufferings, such as beatings. He was stoned three times and left for dead. He was shipwrecked, robbed, without food or clothes many times, persecuted by the religious elite of his day and imprisoned more than once.

Notice Paul said, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.” It did not come naturally for him. He had to “learn” to be content.

The secret, Paul said, is this – “I can do all things through Him (Jesus) who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13)

Paul learned to rely on Jesus to give him the strength he needed in every life circumstance. When he found himself “in need,” he learned to take that need to the Lord and ask Him to provide or sustain him if he had to go without. Paul learned to lean on the Lord for His strength when Paul had no strength of his own. He learned to draw on the power and wisdom of the Lord in every circumstance of life.

Perhaps one could understand needing the Lord’s strength when one is weak, in need, or hungry, but why would anyone need God’s strength in times of abundance?

It may be that we need God’s strength even more in times of abundance than in times of need. It is easy to turn to God when we are in dire straits; when we have nowhere else to turn. Unfortunately, that is the default for most people – including Christians. In times of abundance, however, many take their eyes off God and put their faith in their blessings and their abundance and forget all about the God from whom all blessings flow.

The Old Testament is replete with stories of the Israelites, God’s chosen people, doing just that. They often found themselves in dire straits, and much of the time, because of their own doing. In times of desperation, they cried out to God to deliver them. 

As soon as He did, they took their eyes off Jehovah Mephalti, the God who delivers and went back to worshipping other gods; the gods of their own making. Which inevitably led them into bondage and dire straits yet again, causing them to cry out to the one true God for deliverance. Round and round they went. The sad truth is – human nature hasn’t changed much over the centuries.

True contentment in life, the kind of contentment the Apostle Paul talks about in his epistles, comes from finding one’s identity in Christ. It comes from knowing who and whose you are. It is not based on our circumstances, because life circumstances are ever-changing and unpredictable, unlike Jesus Christ, who “… is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

I do not know what degrees you are working on in life, my friend, but I pray that you, like me, are seeking daily, with the Holy Spirit as your professor in the classroom of life, to follow in the Apostle Paul’s footsteps. And at the great convocation of our lives, I pray we will all graduate Summa Cum Laude, with a degree from the prestigious College of Contentment. 

 

Lisa Hannan lives in Valdosta with her husband, attorney Miles Hannan, who has been practicing law in Valdosta for more than 30 years. She has a B.S. in psychology from Valdosta State University. You can find her at www.lisahannan.org.