Tag Archives: want

Contented In Any Situation

CONTENTED IN ANY SITUATION

“I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned but you had no opportunity to show it. 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 things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:10-13.

Imagine living in a world with no e-mail and no internet banking! We have it so easy today that living in Paul’s day where the postal and banking services were carried out on foot, is unthinkable.

That makes Paul’s comments about being content in every circumstance even more amazing. Here he was, incarcerated in a high security prison in Caesar’s palace, shackled to a Roman soldier as though he were a dangerous criminal, cut off from the outside world, and especially from his friends and the churches that he loved so much, and he says he’s content! How could he be content in a situation like that?

Paul said that he had learned the secret. How did he learn it? He learned it through trusting God in his suffering. His story, recorded for us in the book of Acts reads like a spy thriller. His mission was to bring the truth of God to people who were embroiled in idolatry and enslaved by their own depraved lives. Instead of being welcomed and his message believed, he was treated like a felon, hounded from one city to another, beaten, stoned and imprisoned and his message discarded with contempt.

It would be like the prisoners on death row beating up their warden and throwing him out when he opened all their cell doors and told them that they had been pardoned and that they were free to leave.

Paul had no idea what the next day would bring for him. Would he be taken for trial? Would he be released or executed? Did he have a future or was today his last day? And he was content! It makes no sense to anyone who does not understand God’s promises or have the security of knowing who he is in Christ.

What was this contentment of which Paul spoke and what was its source? It was the attitude of absolute trust in God no matter what happened because he knew that God was in charge. It was something he had to learn, not natural to him as a human being. It was a supernatural gift of God’s grace given to him in his utter weakness. It was the ability to relax and let God take care of things for him because he was powerless to change anything.

How did Paul learn this attitude of quiet trust in the turbulence of his life? He learned it by trusting God before, in, and after the storm, when he could look back and see a pattern that revealed the hand of God over his life. Every bad patch he went through strengthened his conviction that it was okay to relax because God was there, until nothing fazed him no matter what life dished up to him. He was at peace in the knowledge that, even if they took his life, he was still secure in Christ.

Discontentment is evidence that we believe that God is being unfair and that He has short-changed us. We look at others and envy them for their circumstances, their gifts, their jobs, their position, their influence, their wives, husbands, children and…and…and! We chafe when life is hard. We can’t wait for this, that or the other to happen. We are always borrowing from tomorrow instead of living fully today.

Paul measured the slowness of the Philippians’ response to his needs against his ability to be at peace in jail and he could reassure them that he understood and that it was okay because he was not driven by his circumstances or his needs. They did what they could and he appreciated their concern for him. What they could not do did not matter because his heart was at peace.

Out of the depth of his own suffering, and the confidence in his heavenly Father that suffering had taught him, Paul could say, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. If we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” 1 Timothy 6;6-8.

There are three non-negotiable obligations for every believer in Jesus: to protect love, preserve unity and promote contentment. Imagine if these were the characteristics of every body of believers in the world!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Civil War

CIVIL WAR

“As it is, it is no longer I myself but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” Romans 7:17-20.

Spoken like a true Hebrew!

Every year, during Elul, the last month of the Hebrew calendar, prior to the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah or Rosh Hashanah) which preceded the most holy day of the year, (Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement), a trumpet was blown daily as a reminder to every Jew to prepare for Yom Kippur. This was the day when God judged and forgave all sin for another year.

Preparation consisted of three things, teshuvah, tephillah and tsidaqah – repentance, prayer and works of righteousness. However, repentance was not about turning away from sin but returning to the person God created them to be. Prayer was not about petitioning God but about turning towards Him and learning to think like Him. Works of righteousness were not about doing things for less fortunate people even though they were undeserving, but about being merciful and generous to others because God had shown mercy to them.

Paul recognised that sin was an invader, illegally occupying the person God had created him to be. This was not as God intended. He had been taken over from conception by a squatter who had no right to be there but whom he had no power to evict. He differentiated between his true self and the sin that ruled his life. He was not making excuses for his behaviour or trying to evade responsibility for his choices, but rather recognising that God was not responsible for what he was because sin was not in His blueprint for man.

God is good (functional) and everything He made, including man, was good (functional), working together in perfect harmony with His nature and with one another. The entire universe was created to be a unit. It would remain that way as long as human beings, who were to rule the earth, chose to live in harmony with God’s will.

When man chose to disobey God and set up his own rules, he and the whole universe became dysfunctional. He has repudiated God’s right to tell him how to live by giving his allegiance to a usurper, and paid the price God had warned him about – death. He was still man, made in God’s image with the potential to be one with God, but now his bent was towards rebellion. There was a foreigner in charge and he was obligated to obey Satan because he had seized control.

Paul recognised that his sinful nature was dysfunctional, incapable of obeying God and doing the right thing. There was civil war in his inner being. He longed to be obedient to his Creator, but he had no power to change his nature which was under the influence of the enemy and driven by enmity towards God.

He was trapped in this inward conflict with no hope of ever getting out of it by his own efforts. The problem was that, legally he in the dock, judged guilty, living in shame and fear and awaiting sentence on the Day of Judgment. By his own sinful life, he proved that he was in cahoots with the usurper and rightfully declared guilty.

What a terrible plight he was in. He knew he was condemned yet, at the same time, he yearned to be free to worship God and follow His ways. He was inside his prison cell peering wistfully through the bars at the beautiful world outside, with no way to get out and enjoy the freedom that should have been his.

What was he to do? He needed someone to step in and rescue him.

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.