The Secret to Contentment
Who is rich?
“Who is rich? He who is happy with what he has.”
– Mishnah, Avot 4.1
The New York Times recently published an article entitled, “Let He Who Is Without Yeezys Cast the First Stone.” Some of you may be asking what are Yeezys?
The article opened with this question: Should pastors wear $5,000 sneakers?
I’m not sure how many of you are on Instagram, but if you are one Instagram account you might want to follow is called “@PreachersNSneakers.”
@PreachersNSneakers is an Instagram account started by a college graduate in Texas who loves the sneaker culture and also enjoys following well-known pastors and worship leaders.
So what this anonymous college graduate did was start an Instagram account that combined his love for expensive sneakers with his love for prominent pastors and worship leaders. When he would notice someone like this wearing expensive shoes or clothes, he would post the picture on Instagram along with a picture of what they were wearing and what it cost. The Instagram account quickly gained over 100,000 followers and, as you might imagine, there was a tremendous backlash. For whatever reason people, in general, don’t think pastors should wear expensive sneakers! It’s ok if they wear them, but they don’t think the leaders in their churches should.
And they might have a point. But it brings up a real tension inside of us because at some point we all have to ask ourselves how much is too much to spend on this or that, and what does how I spend the money I have to say about what I believe?
Here’s what was written in the New York Times article… “the photos have led to soul-searching over what some see as an undercurrent of materialism that has been getting uncomfortable attention. The exchange has grown beyond simply criticizing the pastors, as many young Christians were nudged to wrestle over how they present themselves to the world and how it squares with the faith’s teachings.”
Materialism?
Some people will say that our problem is materialism.
Materialism is certainly a problem. I don’t want to minimize it. But I wonder if it’s symptomatic of something else.
I’ve been thinking about this and I’m curious if you agree… I wonder if the root of our problem is that we are putting our HOPE in the wrong things.
We know better. We know the right answer. We know where we should put our hope. But practically speaking, we sleep better at night if our bank account is full. Practically speaking, we feel better about ourselves when we have the same nice things or nicer things than the people we spend time with. Practically speaking, we’re constantly comparing ourselves to others and as long as we measure up or surpass them, whoever they are, then we’re good.
What’s happened in us is that we’ve put our confidence in the wrong things. We’ve found our confidence and our identity in things, in money, in possessions, in what other people think about us. We’ve put our confidence in the gifts we’ve been given instead of the Giver of every good and perfect gift. We’ve put our confidence in the people we’ve surrounded ourselves with instead of the Creator of all things.
So what happens is that our soul is never satisfied with any of those things because our soul longs for something more, something different.
Something More
Interestingly, this has always been a problem for people.
Since creation, people have been craving more. Just ask Adam and Eve. God wasn’t enough, they wanted more.
In the days of Jesus, people were after more. Just ask his disciples. Or the religious leaders. They had the Messiah in front of them, yet what they wanted was something more.
Even at the beginning of the early church, coming to know and believe in the resurrected Jesus and belonging to His church wasn’t enough. Just ask Ananias and Sapphira. They had the church and the gift of the Holy Spirit yet they were seeking their own needs and interests ahead of others. They were seeking more.
But Jesus came to show us another way. A way that leads to life. A way that leads to true community. A way that leads to finding what we’re really after. It’s a different way to live. It’s the way to contentment. The way to being at peace with whatever you have in this world because you’ve already taken hold of something that is not of this world.
I think a man by the name of Paul probably understood this better than anyone else who has ever lived.
Learning the Secret
Paul says,
How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have LEARNED how to be CONTENT with whatever I have. – Philippians 4.10-11
For Paul, contentment is more than a decision. It’s something that is learned and learned over time. Contentment is something that happens when we practice the spiritual disciplines and we learn to detach from the things of this world and cling to Christ and Christ alone. This is something that Paul learned. And no doubt, he learned it from sitting in jail. From being stoned and shipwrecked! He learned it from all the difficulties he faced.
Some of you are praying to be free from whatever difficulty it is that you’re facing today. But it may be that God is using that difficulty to help you learn contentment. To learn to detach from the things of this world, from putting your hope and confidence in the things of this world, and cling to Christ and Christ alone.
Paul continues,
I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the SECRET of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. – Philippians 4.12
Everything Paul has gone through, everything he has endured, every high and low, every mountaintop and every valley, Paul has LEARNED the SECRET to living in every situation. Paul has learned the secret to a life of contentment.
What is it?
Do you want to know what the secret is?
Here is what Paul says is the secret to living a life free of our attachments to this world and living a life of contentment. He says,
For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me STRENGTH. – Philippians 4.13
My guess is that most of you know those words by heart. You’ve got that verse memorized. It’s on the back of the shirt you wear or your kids wear to the gym or to practice. You’ve got it on a bookmark in your Bible. You’ve put that verse on your mirror or in your car. It’s the verse you use as motivation to achieve more, accomplish more, and have more success. It motivates you to work harder and do more than you thought you could do.
Meet any Christian athlete or high achiever and they’ll have this verse on a wrist band, written on something they wear, or even tattooed on their skin.
And that’s ok. BUT, I wonder if we’ve misunderstood this verse, these words from Paul. I wonder if, with good intention, we’ve pulled them out of his original context to make them mean something different than what they first meant.
Paul isn’t trying to help his football team win the next big game. He isn’t trying to help business executives work harder to land the next big client. He’s writing from a jail cell. He’s given up everything for the sake of Christ. He’s thanking a church who has been uncommonly generous to him and he’s saying, “I’m good. Thank you for taking care of me. For being concerned about me. But I’ve learned the SECRET to contentment and I want you to know it too: “JESUS IS MY STRENGTH! JESUS IS MY EVERYTHING!”
Whatever happens in this life, whatever comes my way, whatever difficulty arises, or whatever I face, none of it compares to knowing Jesus!
Jesus is enough for me in this jail cell. He is my strength when I’m shipwrecked in the storm. He’s my portion when there’s no food left to eat. He is my refuge when I’m stripped and beaten to the bone. He’s the reason I can sing in the shackles and I can preach about Jesus when my body is still bruised from being stoned!
So here’s my question for you…
What would life look like for you if you were able to learn this secret to contentment?
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