Secrets of Contentment

by J. R. Miller

“I am glad to think,
I am not bound to make the world go right,
But only to discover, and to do with cheerful heart,
The work which God appoints.”

• But what did Paul mean when he said, "I am content"? He certainly did not mean that he was satisfied. Contentment is not an indolent giving up to circumstances. It does not come through dying out of desire and aspiration in the heart. There is a condition of mind which some people suppose to be devout submission to God's will, which is anything but Christlike. We are to make the most of our life. We are not to yield irresolutely and weakly to everything which opposes us. Ofttimes we are to resist and conquer what seems to be impossibilities. We are never to be satisfied with our attainments, or our achievements, however fine they may be. Satisfaction is undivine; it is a mark of death, not of life. Paul never was satisfied. He lived to the very last day of his life—looking forward and not back—forgetting things which were behind—and stretching forward to things yet before, eager to do more and achieve more. When he said he had learned to be content, he did not mean that he had ceased to aspire and strive.
• Discontent springs from lack of faith in God.
• One discontented person in a family often makes a whole household wretched.
• Obstacles are not always meant to block our way; ofttimes they are intended to inspire us to courage and effort, and thus to bring out our hidden strength.
• Discontent never made a rough path smoother, a heavy burden lighter, a bitter cup sweeter, a dark way brighter, or added comfort to a sore sorrow. It only makes matters worse. On who accepts with patience that which he cannot change has learned one secret of victorious living.
  • Another part of that lesson is that we can learn to moderate our desires.
• Contentment does not dwell so often in palaces as in the homes of the humble. The tall peaks rise higher, and are more conspicuous—but the winds smite them more fiercely than they do the quiet valleys.
• Trying to grasp things beyond our reach, we leave unseen, unappreciated, untouched, and despised, the many sweet bits of happiness which lie close about us. Stretching his had to catch the stars, man forgets the flowers at his feet.
• A fine secret of contentment lies in finding and extracting all the pleasure we can get from the things we have—the common, everyday things; while we enter upon no mad, vain chase after impossible dreams. In whatever state we are in, we may find therein enough for our need.
• No earthly misfortune can touch the wealth which a Christian holds in divine promises and hopes.
• Just as we can do without childhood’s toys, when we have manhood’s better possessions, we need the toys of this world less, as we get more of God and heaven into our hearts.
• Paul was content in any trial, because earth meant so little—and Christ meant so much to him. He did not need the things he did not have. He was not made poor by the things he lost. He was not vexed by the sufferings he had to endure, because the sources of his life were in heaven, and could not be touched by earthly experiences of pain or loss.