Christmas Contentment

Is it possible to exhibit contentment during the Christmas season?  If you go to a store where people are Christmas shopping, it doesn’t look like it!  Everyone seems to be interested in buying as many things as they can – usually a sure sign that contentment is lacking.  But the issue with contentment isn’t about how much or how little anyone buys or has; it’s about the attitude of the heart.  That’s because contentment or lack of contentment isn’t about external things, but internal things. 

You see, contentment isn’t about being satisfied with the gift; it’s about being satisfied with the Giver.  I’ve always been a fairly contented person, but I am encouraged by what the apostle Paul says in Philippians 4: contentment isn’t natural – it has to be learned.  Here’s what verses 12 and 13 say:

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

Paul knew all about many different life situations, and they didn’t all naturally lead to contentment!  Most of us in first world countries will never experience the types of things that Paul experienced; yet we seem to struggle more with contentment than he did.  Why is that?  Paul says here that he had learned the secret of contentment – and it was focusing on “him who gives me strength” instead of “any and every situation”.  For Paul, knowing Christ was everything.  With this perspective, all of his needs were satisfied and contentment was possible.  To paraphrase from a famous movie, maybe our focus needs more focus in the right direction.

Paul tells us that contentment isn’t natural, and he tells us the secret of how to get there.  In his first letter to Timothy, he hints at the same secret: “. . . godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6).  Contentment isn’t natural in our humanness, but it is a natural by-product of godliness – of walking closer and closer to God and trusting him and him alone to give us what we actually need to be content.    

As we continue through this Christmas season, let’s agree to work hard at being content.  All it takes is trusting God more and trusting ourselves and the world around us less.  I want to be different than most of the people I encounter while Christmas shopping – on the inside where it counts.  Contentment can be contagious, so let’s spread some around!