Contentment Must Be Learned

I have learned to be content.
       —Philippians 4:11

I have a dear friend who has experienced life both on the mountain and in the valley.

In a remarkably productive half-century, he created two dozen personal-development courses and coached over 1.5 million participants in 130 nations to positive, successful, spiritually-oriented lives.

These days he’s treading rough water, dealing with daunting health issues: chronic pain, diminished energy, grim prognosis.

His attitude? Five-star! He points to the apostle Paul’s incarceration: guards, shackles, isolation—saying his issues are minor by comparison.

Nineteenth-century preacher Charles Spurgeon wrote: “Contentment is one of the flowers of heaven, and it must be cultivated. Paul says, ‘I have learned to be content,’ as if he didn’t know how at one time.”

If Paul, confined to prison, abandoned by friends, and facing execution could learn contentment, so can you—as my friend has.

Money can buy stuff,
but it can’t buy contentment.

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