How to be content

How many of you have heard the verse “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me?”

How have you heard people use this verse? What do they use it to mean?

There are a lot of ways that people use it, I think the most popular one is Tim Tebow, he was a Heisman winner at Florida University and he would wear eye black that said Phil. 4:13. By doing that what he is saying “by God’s strength I am able to have victory in this competition.” It is used to say “what ever I put my mind to I can do it because the Lord can give me strength”. Or to say “if something seems impossible, just remember that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Now certainly, God can do miraculous things, and through Christ we have a strength we can never have on our own. But that isn’t what Paul is talking about here.

Be willing to receive generosity

Paul saw that other people were willing to offer him gifts to help him through his difficult circumstances. God often uses other people in our lives to help us when we go through trials. But oftentimes what we try and do is isolate ourselves. When our friends ask us how we are doing we say “fine” or “great” and if they ask if something is wrong we say “no”. Because we don’t want other people to see that we are vulnerable. And then we can go to God and ask him why he hasn’t helped us in our difficulties when he has sent someone to be there for us.

Notice it says that these believes were “concerned” for him, even when they were too far away to help. But even that they sought to be there for him was a comfort to him. And when there was an opportunity they took it. Sometimes when people ask how they can help us we don’t have an answer for them, but then be frustrated when no one is there to help us. But what we should recognize is that there are people that care for us and that they have respected our wishes.

In v. 14 he says that they did well to “partner with me in hardship, which really means that they shared and grieved with him through his suffering. They were willing to just be there with him, they didn’t have to say anything, they just needed to be there. But often in the moments we need it the most we won’t let other people “be there” for us. That is when we just binge a Netflix show, or scroll through Instagram, or eat a whole carton of ice cream. Can I tell you something? None of those things will help you through suffering, in fact a lot of times they will make it worse. Because when we go to these other things when we are struggling we are seeking to forget about our problems, we are seeking to bury them and cover them up with someone else. But that doesn’t help you deal with the anxiety, or the depression, or the fear that you are dealing with. It only will make it worse, because you never deal with the problem, you never get to the root of the issues that you are facing.

Practice Christian discipline

Paul says that he has “learned to be content in whatever circumstances”. This means that it has something that he has practiced and he has found the ability to do. This means that we have to practice in our own lives the ability to have contentment in our circumstances. This means that in our circumstances, no matter how big and small, we can find peace in them. This means that in opportunities over small things we learn to be content.

Next week is Thanksgiving, and with Thanksgiving comes some of our favorite foods. What is your favorite Thanksgiving food? Mashed potatoes? Green been casserole? Pumpkin pie? Now imagine, for a second, that it is Thanksgiving and you are enjoying your meal. And as you and your family keep eating and you are enjoying all your food and talking. You look over and you see one last piece of that food that is your favorite, but as you go to reach for it another family member reaches for it. How do you respond? Do you just take it? Do you yell at them and tell them that it is yours? Do you use sarcasm and say “you better not take that”? Or are you okay if you don’t have another piece of that food? Or even when you know that you are full, do you NEED to take that last bite? Do you just NEED to have another helping? Or can you be content?

Now that is just one example. Can you learn to be content with the phone you have rather than NEEDING the new iphone that just came out? Can you be content to wait and save up for the Playstation 5 or the new game that came out or do you have to have it now? Can you be content when you go on a trip with your family and you are stuck in the car and you just want to get out? Because when you learn to be content in the little circumstances, with the things that don’t impact your life very much. Then you can learn to be content when circumstances are harder. When you feel discontent because you want a girlfriend or boyfriend and you don’t have one. Or do you just feel so ready to be done with middle school or high school, can you learn do what you need to do now so that you can be prepared for the next stage of life? Because it becomes easier and easier to be discontent. When you don’t have the job you want yet, or you want to be married, or you want to make so much money, or you want a new car. Or you can be discontent when you everything is going badly in your life and you feel like nothing is going your way. You can learn to recognize that it is a season of life rather than feeling like nothing will ever change. As Paul says, he has learned to be content with a lot and to be content with a little, well fed or hungry, abundance or need.

Proverbs 30:8–9 CSB

Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor wealth; feed me with the food I need. Otherwise, I might have too much and deny you, saying, “Who is the Lord?” or I might have nothing and steal, profaning the name of my God.

Because when we are discontent we can start to covet, we complain, we are never satisfied with what we have. We can even learn to be discontent when we have good things. If we are discontent then even when we have what we want we can desire what someone else has, or we want something more. But as Paul says, we must learn the “secret” of contentment. And the only way to learn that is through experience.

Trust in God

Then Paul says that He trusts that the Lord will strengthen him. He recognizes that there is no experience or circumstance that he could face in which God would not be strong enough to get him through. He knows this is only a power that God can give him, and it only happens when he trusts in Christ who died for him. God’s Word calls us to take refuge in Christ, to find shelter “under his wings” and that God is our rock and our salvation. This means that when we deal with difficult things we run to God, we call on Him in prayer, we seek His Word, and we seek those who God has put in our life who can direct us towards the Lord.

But if we try to use our own strength, if we trust that we can get through it all on our own then we will find just how hard it is to go through difficulty. But the strength the Paul is talking about isn’t some incredibly physical ability, or smarts, or money. But the strength that Paul is talking about is a strength when we are weak, when we are unable to do it on our own that we are dependent on the Lord. Because there will be many times where we won’t be strong enough to deal with our circumstances, we won’t be strong enough to face the trials in front of us. Whether it is with school and not doing well, whether we feel isolated and alone or like an outcast, whether we feel the weight of peer pressure and making choices we know are wrong, whether we wish that there are things that we had because our friends do and we feel like we need those to fit in. There are many ways that we can have hard circumstances and not be able to deal with them on our own.

Now I could provide examples of my life, but I want to show you a video, and this video is of one of my professors. I had him for several classes and so I knew him well, he was a genuine and kind guy and an incredibly hard worker. And while I was in his class there was something very hard that he went through, but I will let him tell the story.