By Chuck Bentley

Most of us are looking forward to something that we think will improve our contentment. Have you given thought to what would immediately increase your personal contentment?

A better car? A better job? Maybe just a raise? A long vacation? How about becoming debt free?

I understand that our financial condition can cause a lot of worry, stress, and discontentment. And I think it is important to be working toward improving your financial well being, but not at the expense of losing your contentment right now.

Let me explain…

Paul spoke of this in Philippians 4:11-13:

Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

In this incredible proclamation, Paul makes a couple of points I don’t want you to miss:

1. He knows what it is to be lacking. In other words he has tasted the pain of not having enough, of suffering, of sacrificing, of delayed gratification, of dashed hopes, of painful sorrows, of what he calls “humble circumstances.” He could make a long list of things that were real needs in his life.

2. He flips the coin to the other side and says he has also experienced an abundance. He knows what it means to have comfort, to taste prosperity, to have all his needs met. But his point is that neither of these conditions gave him contentment. His secret was that Christ was the source of his contentment, not his circumstances.

I hope you can make the same declaration today, right now. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Originally posted 6/18/2015.