Striving for contentment is honorable and good. But we should not allow striving for contentment to prevent us from seeking to better our situation through either work or asking for help. Help doesn’t necessarily equate with finances, either. I’m terrible about asking for any form of help. Many of my friends have expressed a similar struggle. Yet we’re often met with obstacles that we struggle to overcome on our own. Try as we may, we can’t escape the fact that God designed us to be interdependent.

Philippians 4 has always struck me as a misunderstood chapter of the Bible. It’s likely that Phil 4:13 is the verse that stands out in your mind. After all, it’s emblazoned on everything from the home team’s high school football banners to athlete’s eye black to countless Instagram profiles. It’s used to encourage everyone from test-takers to Olympic athletes that, through Jesus, they can do all things.

But Philippians 4 has always been about contentment. In fact, Phil 4:13, the oft-quoted verse used to inspire a victor’s mindset, was actually Paul’s admission that he had learned how to be content in less-than-favorable circumstances. Paul wasn’t saying that, through Jesus, He could overcome any obstacle. He was saying that, through Jesus, he had learned how to be ok with plenty or with little, with victory or with a setback.

Contentment is More than Always Being Happy with what You Have

Lest we think that story ends there, Paul continued on: “Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.” Paul then outlined how the church at Philippi had been a financial blessing in his ministry. In fact, they were the first church ever to support him and were willing to help him when no one else would. Now, Paul took the opportunity to thank them for a new financial gift they had sent to him that had left him “amply supplied” (4:18)

The message of Philippians 4 is far more nuanced than we like to make it.

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