Are you content?
Before you answer that question, you have to interpret the meaning of contentment. Generally that question falls on our ears as “Are you happy?” or “Are you satisfied?” Any dictionary from your bookshelf will confirm that hunch, affirming that contentment is “the state of being happy or satisfied.” But in my opinion, the Bible takes a different approach to the meaning of the word content.
When the Bible speaks of being content, its referring to being “self contained, self sustained, and freely independent.” The clearest example is God himself. In Exodus 3 we read of Moses’ familiar conversation with God at the burning bush. During the course of the talk, Moses asked God to reveal his name, to which God replied, “I AM THAT I AM.” When God referenced himself as the “I AM,” he was explaining that he existed in and of himself; that he needed nothing outside of himself to exist. God is the ultimate contented being. He is self contained, self sustained, and freely independent. He is who he is within himself.
So let me ask again, are you content?
In the book of Philippians, the apostle Paul claimed that he had found contentment. The most helpful thing he offers in that confession is that he had learned to be content. Being content, for Paul and all of us for that matter, doesn’t just magically happen to us. It’s not a gift nor is it a personality trait. If we are going to find contentment in life, we have to learn it.
Tomorrow I’ll share some specific things that Paul learned about how he learned to be content.
