Contentment
Ed talked about contentment this week in his sermon about David. What does that mean? Paul says in Philippians 4:11-12 that he knows how to be content in every situation. This is coming from a man who’s been thrown in jail more than once for talking about Jesus, beaten and left for dead, and slandered by other Christians. So what does it mean to be content when you are suffering? And does the cause of the suffering make a difference? I mean, it’s one thing to suffer the loss of a loved one, while it’s another thing altogether to be a political prisoner or social outcast.
Is contentment a passive acceptance of suffering, injustice, or abuse? Can you resist or protest injustice or abuse while also being content? How did Paul find contentment when he was lying in a ditch being pelted with rocks, or sitting in chains in a jail cell? For that matter, how did David manage to write psalms praising God while he was hiding in a cave waiting for an army to find and kill him?
Is contentment the ability to praise and love God even in the middle of suffering?
- Written by Elaine Bayless