5 Keys To Contentment
What if I told you that there was something of great value that could bring you great gain, if you would just pursue it?
Did your mind automatically think about money and getting rich quickly?
No, what I am talking about are the twin virtues of godliness with contentment. The Bible says:
But godliness with contentment is great gain. 1 Tim. 6:6
Godliness is a proper estimation of God’s ways and a willingness to walk in them. Contentment is being happy with whatever we have: our possessions, our circumstances, our limitations, our “lot in life.”
There is a rare beauty in a woman who is both godly and content.
This woman is at peace. She is not frantic or hectic, trying to make life work the way she wants it. She is unperturbed and unruffled because she knows that God is sitting on the throne of Heaven doing what is good and right and she leaves the details to Him.
Unlike the grasping, reaching, striving women all around her, she is settled. While other women are moody and complaining about all they don’t have and how they wish life was different, she is confident. She is content in her own skin, happy in her own circumstance, and able to encourage others around her by her outward trust in God.
She is at rest. She is secure in her Savior.
I know I’ve shared this before but think it is worth sharing again:
In the book, Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow, she speaks of a missionary woman she knew. This lady lived in Africa, in a mud hut. And Linda said she was one of the most content people she had ever met. She asked the missionary woman for her secret to contentment and this was her response:
1. Never allow yourself to complain about anything, not even the weather.
2. Never picture yourself in a different circumstance or someplace else.
3. Never compare your lot with the lot of another.
4. Never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise.
5. Never dwell on tomorrow. Remember it is God’s, and not ours.
What do you think of this list? Pretty sound advice, huh?
Do you see discontentment as raising your fist to God in defiance of what He has given you? Are we taking good from the Lord and not the bad in life? How do you prepare your mind for contentment on a daily basis?
That is a great list! This topic has been on my heart a lot lately as well (wrote about it on my blog recently actually), and that is a great list 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome, Crystal.
Sarah, I love that you always pick topics going straight to the heart! 🙂
Contentment is something the Lord has been working in my heart in so many ways for the past few years. Mainly through trials. 😉 Things I didn’t realize were idols have been coming to the surface, and I also didn’t realize how much I was lacking trust. He is SO faithful…I am still in progress, but I have more peace than I’ve had in a long time. I’m thankful that He allows certain refining seasons so that the dross can be brought to the surface. Such grace and mercy not to leave us the way we are!
Love to you!!
Ashlie, yes, our lessons most often come through trials. 🙂 Thankful that we come out better in the end. He is merciful!
I had to pop by (from Titus 2sDays) when I saw the title of your post – because I did a series with the same title. And then I read your post and I saw that we blogged about the exact same thing from the exact same book! 🙂 Imagine! That book changed my life and brought me a whole new sense of contentment, peace, and joy in my heart. I pray you are blessed this week. – A Little R & R http://jukiczr.blogspot.com
Thanks for stopping by!