“Learning Contentment”
Philippians 4:11-13
Contentment is not natural and doesn’t come to us automatically, it is earned and learned. Complaining, selfishness and discontentment comes without much effort at all, it is born in us and if practiced becomes a way of life. To grow something it must be tended, cultivated; we must work at it to make it grow. Contentment comes from the garden of God, who has an abundant supply, and which is probably one of His least sought-after flowers. It will not grow naturally, we must work at it; Always hoeing, fertilizing, watering, pruning; caring for it night and day. It does not grow without a struggle, but we can eventually learn how to grow without a lot of struggle. We can eventually learn how to be content, and only a born-again believer can attain this grace that God has sown in us. Paul said in these verses that he had to learn how to be content, that means at one time he didn’t know how. It is the same with us, if you want it, you’ll have to work for it. It will cost you pain; your flesh will balk at the very thought of it. It will cry out, “I should come first, you’re leaving me out, can’t we compromise this thing? “We’ll never be content without learning, and we’ll never learn without discipline of self. It is not a natural power, it has to be done by progressive sanctification, by studying the Word of God and training yourself not to murmur.
“The Garden of Contentment”
Diligently study if you desire to learn,
The flower of contentment must be worked to earn.
Murmuring is the blight that will kill your garden,
Complaints will attack your holy ground to harden;
Cultivating daily is the only way to know,
That contentment flourished by working to grow.
-Tom Milam
Daily Jewel:
“Contentment is not natural and doesn’t come to us automatically.”
Daily Scripture Reading: Numbers 8-9
Weekly Memory Verses: 1 Corinthians 12:12-18
Tom and Linda Milam, Missionaries to America and Around the World
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