Learning to be Content

“I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content” (Philippians 4:11).  “I have learned”, wrote Paul.  That is very significant.  We do not come by this naturally, it must be learned.  But it cannot be learned in any school or university.  Even Harvard and Cambridge are powerless to impart this to the students that are privileged to attend them.  And the most brilliant students, even those with the intellectual capacity of a genius, have no advantage in learning contentment.  How then did Paul learn this?  The apostle’s words here express the glorious power of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a mature Christian.  I cannot think of anything more important or desirable to learn.  Imagine how the possession of this quality would impact every facet of your daily life!  The Puritan Richard Sibbes wrote with great insight on this verse, “It is not the learning of education, but of holiness.  All the degrees in the world cannot teach it.  Paul did not learn it at Gamaliel’s feet, but from Christ, and through much affliction.  Nature never teaches it.  It is learned with many stripes in the school of Christ.”  Which may be the reason so few Christians are great scholars of this truth.  But what must not be missed here is that God’s grace can carry us through all conditions with our trust and joy in Him intact and functioning.  The Christian filled with grace will not be overly dejected in difficulties, nor unguardedly exuberant in prosperity.  Neither abundance nor lack changes the basic fact that God is the portion, the source of all good, for the trusting believer.