I Have Learned...

Philippians 4:  11-12 …for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 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’m in my fifth decade of life and I’m not sure I’ve learned what is written in these verses.  Being content in “whatever” (there’s that word again) the circumstances is quite a statement to make.

But look at the next sentence.  This writer has been in a state of want before, where he had needs.  He has also been in a state of plenty, where all of his needs were met.  And from that experience, he says he learned the secret to contentment.

You too have no doubt experienced times where you had all that you needed, and times where you you struggled to have enough.  And yet, some of us have never really struggled to the point of being destitute at all.  And others of us know exactly how that feels.The problem comes when we are in the middle of destitution and we look at those who have plenty and think, “If I had what they have, I would be happy.”   

So in any position or circumstance in life there is ample opportunity to be discontented.

The secret of contentment does not lie within the amount of things we possess, but rather in what possesses the things we have.

The secret is in the next verse…