True contentment comes when our boast is in the Lord. It comes when we remember our complete unworthiness to be given any good thing, receive God’s “inexpressible gift to us in Christ Jesus” (2 Cor. 9:15), and recognize with heartfelt gratitude and overflowing praise that every gift, whether to us or to others, is wisely and lovingly given by God in accordance with His good purposes for all His people.
It is a sad condition of our fallen hearts that when we see God’s goodness to others, so often instead of rejoicing with them and praising God, we become envious, antagonistic to their happiness, and discontent with our own situation. Instead of celebrating and blessing God for the good things He has given them—a happy marriage, children, natural abilities and talents, financial or ministry success—we feel threatened, excluded, or neglected.
This sinful response is common to all people, but it is a struggle for Christians because we know our hearts should not respond this way. We know that God has already been unspeakably gracious to us by giving us every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph. 1:3), and that we should be perfectly content with whatever comes to us because we already have all things (1 Cor. 3:21).
But knowing God’s Word and obeying it from the heart are different things, and often in our sanctification we feel the gap between them. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit does not leave us to make up this difference on our own but equips and empowers us to do as He has commanded.
One passage that can be particularly helpful in the fight for contentment is found in Paul’s instruction to the church at Corinth. In 1 Corinthians, Paul addresses a problem the church is having with personality cults, where some are saying, “I follow Paul,” and others, “I follow Apollos,” and there is quarreling and division among them. In his analysis of this behavior, Paul discerns that their rallying around well-known preachers stems from a worldly desire to exalt themselves through association. In other words, by favoring a particular church leader, the people are trying to puff themselves up (1 Cor. 4:6). Rather than being content with who they are or what they have, they are attempting to place themselves above others in the church.
Some among them favor Paul, most likely because he was an Apostle and the first to bring the gospel and establish the church in Corinth. Many would have learned the basics of the faith under Paul while he taught the Word of God to them for eighteen months (Acts 18:11). A few could even boast of having been baptized by him (1 Cor. 1:14–16).
Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.