By Beverly Wages
I wish I was a boy. This is a remark I heard my little girl friend say so many times. We were very young then, and she had three brothers who were older than she. She thought they had so many privileges that she didn’t have. Since they were older and were always together, I guess their mother felt freer to let them go more places.
This was just a child’s thoughts, but in thinking about this, I thought of how much discontentment there is in the world. Even we as Christians sometimes show such discontentment. When we are here, we want to be there, or when we have this, we want that. No matter what a human being has, there always seems to be something to desire.
The apostle Paul said in Philippians 4:11, “… for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” In the verses that followed, he said that he knew how to be abased and how to abound; to be full and to be hungry; to abound and to suffer need. Then in verse 13 he said:
“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
Surely, as Christian women today we should be content in doing anything the Lord has for us. Only when we are in His will, will we find happiness and contentment. In 1 Timothy 6:6 we read:
“But godliness with contentment is great gain.”
With godliness and contentment we can accomplish all the Lord would have us do, and this can bring much happiness and a good life.
It is interesting to see that we are told “godliness with contentment.” Certainly we should never be content in sinful living or even living as Christians out of the will of our Lord. Many people of the world are content living in sin. They have much fleshly satisfaction. However, contentment alone cannot bring real happiness. We should keep in mind what 1 Timothy 6:6 says— Godliness with contentment!
In Hebrews 13:5 we read,
“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have; for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”
Perhaps many are not content because they don’t know what we have in Christ. Look again at the Scripture we just read in Hebrews 13:5. He has said He will never leave us nor forsake us. Imagine as children of the Lord, we will never be left alone! If we have Him as our Saviour we will never be left alone! Loneliness is a hard thing to live with. But we will never have to be alone! As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit living in us! He is there as our Saviour, our Comforter, our Friend, our All in All. How could we be discontent? How could we wish for more? What contentment we have for our life here on this earth, and what wonderful contentment and anticipation of our life in eternity with Him!
