Philippians 1:12-14
12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.
Philippians 4:10-13
Thanks for Their Gifts
10 I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 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. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
1 Timothy 6:6-10
Godliness with Contentment
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 8 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
St. Paul had many tribulations....He had an illness of some sort or as he called it, a thorn in his flesh...He was flogged, at different times, for preaching the good news...He was in jail several times...But as you read his epistles, that he wrote while he was in jail, it is hard as you read them, to even believe he was in jail...Being locked up in a jail is not a place that usually lifts ones spirits, but as St. Paul writes his letters, we can tell that those who had him put in jail had not taken away his zeal and passion for Jesus and his LORD...His letters are always passionate about the gospel of Jesus, no matter where he wrote them...
Paul had a disability, some thorn in his flesh that he lived with and had prayed to God three times to take away (2 Corinthians 12:8)...St. Paul also was attacked in towns where he preached the good news, and was often persecuted, even stoned and left for dead (Acts 14:19)...Right after Paul was converted on the road to Damascus, he was chased but escaped the city in a basket over the city walls, after preaching the gospel of Jesus (Acts 9:25)...But during all these trying times, his spirit remained high, as did his love for his LORD...So St. Paul learned from things like being in jail, having health issues, having others disagree with him on major issues of religion...
St. Paul, after his conversion on the road to Damascus, had felt the Holy Spirit and the Presence of God...He wrote often, about the grace of God...Jesus gave him strength and renewed his strength through his trials and tribulations of life...
St. Paul wrote Timothy about contentment...He told him that when we work and try to be Holy we make great strides in our lives...If we have received our basic needs from God, our daily bread, clothes, and a shelter, then we have what we need to be content...When we have our basic needs, we can seek and study our LORD...Many things on earth get in our way of contentment...Money and material wants maybe the biggest roadblocks and obstacles we have while we are on earth...Material things can get in the way of our contentment and is an obstacle in being closer to God and His Son...Always, looking for the next material thing, the next gadget or fad to buy or to have is a problem for our faith...The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil...It makes us drift from our faith and gets us further from our LORD...A pleasure and the pleasure of money do not make us content...
To be content in our lives, especially most of the time (if we want to be content), we need to look at our problems differently...When things are going well in our lives, the more we want to be in control...We really like our free will from God, when things are going well...After all, when we are feeling good and things are going our way, free will seems like a good thing...Even when we are just having a so-so day, or week, or month, or even a slump in our lives we want a certain control...I think most people would believe in and want their unfettered free will during these times...We do not want to give up the good things in our lives, and we want to be in control of these good things (or so it seems)...However, when things go from good to a slump, to bad, and then to worse -we are more likely to look to God...We may and more likely will increase our prayers...When we grieve or have a problem with pain, then we want God in our lives...When we suffer a tragedy, we want God...We want this tragedy to leave us...We now want Him in control...Because we cannot control this problem of pain and suffering, we pray and want God's intervention... We will take a little less free will, and now with the problem of pain we want Him in control and in our lives...We care now, while we are in the increased suffering state, less about our free will...The more problems we have, it seems the more we probably want God to intervene...We want to quickly get back to our normal times, our good times that are without His intervention, and back to the free will we enjoy and enjoyed when everything is and was going good...When everything is alright, we often feel we do not need Him...
God can be as near to us in our good times as He is in our bad times...Sometimes we don't realize this in our good times...We are likely to realize this in our sufferings, but then we forget this after things get better...We want our unfettered free will that God gives us when things are good in our lives, but the moment we have problems of pain we look up and want His help...We want His intervention, and do not care as much about our free will...We must realize this when things are going good in our lives, that we also need Him, and His purposes, and to follow His plan, and His will...We always need Him, but when we have a problem of pain, we are looking and asking Him for more...We want a quick answer and more of His intervention in our prayers... We want His comfort and counseling...When we really need Him (we think is) during our times of suffering...This is why, I think, Jesus gives us the two great sermons, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Sermon on the Plain...Jesus, of course, knows when we are troubled, mourning, and in need...And to want Him is a good thing, even with the conditions Jesus' outlines in the Sermons on the Plain and Mount...
Brother Lawrence was a French Monk (1611-1691) and knew much about prayer...He practiced the Presence of God...Brother Lawrence knew, like St. Paul, that contentment was found in God's will...Brother Lawrence "thought that we ought to give ourselves up to God, with regard both to things temporal and spiritual, and to seek our satisfaction only in the fulfilling of His will, whether He leads us by suffering or by consolation, for all would be equal to a soul truly resigned (to Him)" -from Brother Lawrence (from Practicing the Presence of God, conversation one)....
It is much harder to practice this form of contentment, than to write about it or read about it...When we have lost someone, have bad health, have been injured, have been persecuted, having been fired from a job, have our daily tribulations and trials, or in jail as St. Paul was -and can still be content, means we have found everything we need in the Father and Son...God was the central focus of Jesus' life...We should follow His example...When this happens, most of our awakening thoughts are on the Father and Son...We pray more...We are trusting Him to help us take that next step, whatever He wants it to be...St. Paul says, if I have Christ, who can be against me...Isaiah the prophet wrote about this hundreds of years earlier...If I believe in Him, I can do all things, because it is Him who gives me strength, and renews my soul...Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength...They will soar on wings like eagles...They will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint (Isaiah 40:31)...They will be content...
St. Paul sums this up in his definition of contentment...When we can go beyond our daily tribulations and sufferings (no matter what our circumstances are) and trust in God and can still be content in all our circumstances, we have reached another level in our faith -and that is the secret to being content...Paul, who was a Great Saint, understood this as he wrote to the Philippians...St. Paul realized we can do everything through Jesus, who gives us this strength...St. Paul learned that the circumstances in his own life (good or bad, in jail, or with a health issue -with the thorn in his flesh) did not dictate how contented he was or his attitude...St. Paul was in chains and in prison when he wrote his letter to the Philippians... Bad circumstances and troubles in his life did not affect his mood too much, after he got to know Jesus...And as we read his epistles we see this, because it is hard to separate the ones he wrote while he was in jail and the ones he wrote when he was free...