Finding Contentment Wherever We Are

Contentment with where we are in life is a great blessing. A scene from an old TV program illustrates the point well. The following is a conversation between Jed Clampett and Cousin Pearl in the television program "The Beverly Hillbillies." The conversation took place right after Jed discovered oil had been struck on his land.

Jed: Pearl, what d’ya think? Think I oughta move?

Pearl: Jed, how can ya even ask? Look around ya. Yore eight miles from yore nearest neighbor. Yore overrun with skunks, possums, coyotes, bobcats. You use kerosene lamps fer light and you cook on a wood stove summer and winter. Yore drinkin’ homemade moonshine and washin’ with homemade lye soap. And yore bathroom is fifty feet from the house and you ask, “Should I move?”

Jed: I reckon yore right. A man’d be a dang fool to leave all this!

In a fallen world whose very matrix for life revolves around having, doing and being more, how is to a believer to find contentment? How do we experience a heartfelt satisfaction with life in a world that so works against that very thing? God has not left us without biblical examples and guidance for finding contentment despite the forces of life which work to the contrary.

The Apostle Paul lived in a turbulent environment that was hardly conducive to a life of contentment. If contentment came from circumstances, he didn’t stand a chance. He said that he had been imprisoned, beaten more times than he could count, and was often in danger of death. He had been stoned, stranded out in the middle of the ocean for a day and night, sometimes went without sleep or food. He knew what it was to sleep outside, exposed to cold weather. (See 2Corinthians 11:23-27)

In view of these things, Paul made a striking statement in Philippians 4:11 when he said, “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.” How could he learn to be content, considering the kind of lifestyle he experienced? “I have learned to be content,” he said. What lesson taught him that?

What would enable him to write a letter from prison telling his friends, “Even if I am executed here and now, I’ll rejoice . . . join me in my rejoicing. Whatever you do, don’t feel sorry for me” (Philippians 2:17 The Message). Later in Philippians 3:1, he wrote, “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same thing again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.” Then again, he wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (4:4)! These were the words of a man who thought he was on death row.

The Key to contentment is a calm confidence in Jesus Christ. When the world around us seems to be crumbling, we can know that our contentment in life doesn't come from the external world around us, but from Him. Don't seek to draw life from the external, but know that your life source is in the Eternal. With that view in mind, we can find contentment wherever we may find ourselves.