I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 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 in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:11-13 NIV
Although this passage is frequently and heavily misused (specifically the last verse), it contains a very critical truth. And as I continue in my journey with Christ and experience the world around me in all it’s fallenness and loveliness, as well as my own brokenness and goodness, I realize more and more how true these words are. How it really doesn’t matter what we are going through; we can learn to be content in every circumstance.
I am someone who seeks my happiness in my circumstances; and I don’t think I am very different from anyone else in that way. Because of this tendency, I have often been discontent in my life. I am always seeking something better than what I have. Contentment has never come naturally to me; the grass really does always seem greener.
Yet, my circumstances are always changing, and environments are always unpredictable. I’ve had enough disappointments at this point to realize that whatever we are seeking in our life situation (stability, friendship, community, steady income…etc.) will never fulfill or meet our expectations, and even if it does, it won’t last. Satisfaction from circumstances alone is not a deep and abiding one.
We have to anchor our happiness somewhere else. There has to be something, or Someone, that can we can put all our hope into, that won’t shift with the changing winds. Someone that will actually exceed our expectations, from whom we can glean everlasting satisfaction– an overflowing fountain.
This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who turn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
1 Corinthians 7:29-31 ESV
If we are to learn true contentment, we have to learn the secret of living with or without in this physical world. We can’t let whatever we have or don’t have become a distraction from the one abundant relationship we always do and will have, from being present with God and others where we are right now. He does not tell us to wait until our circumstances are perfectly engineered– He calls us here and now to live the life we were created for. The longer we keep chasing the next thing to fulfill us, the longer we put off the joy that’s available to us right now in Him.
I’m learning to live in the tension of planning and setting goals, and giving them up to Him, trusting His perfect timing and grace in the present moment. This world is only our temporary home; there is one much better to come, so we can start learning to live as citizens of that one. We can give up the idea of a perfect life here, and remember that that is promised to us once we are with Him. For now, there is work to be done, and that work is in the context of where we are today.
rhythms of grace 