The secret to being content when life is good or bad – Philippians 4:10–13

Ours is a culture largely run on discontentment. 

New phones every year promising life-changing improvements, leaving you discontent with your old phone.

New gadgets for every task under the sun, promising the good life, resulting in your feeling discontent without them.  Whether it is your vacuum, clothes dryer, car, or just about anything.

New clothing styles.  This has been going on for decades or centuries.  New fads have you discontent with the old fads. Unless you wait thirty years and the old fads become the new fads.

New entertainment, sports betting, politics. I could go on and on.  All of it taps into our discontent, our empty self, promising that the new season of the TV show, or the new medicine, or a politician will solve our fears and doubts.

How have you felt discontentment? 

Discontentment hit me recently when our dog cut himself badly in a fluke accident.  It was kind of dramatic.  Our daughter was there when it happened, and let’s just say there were big emotions. When we learned the cut needed surgery, then I had big emotions.  You maybe well know what veterinary surgery cost.  When my wife told me the price, immediately I felt discontent and discouraged.

I calculated the amount of hours I spend prepping, teaching, and grading for my adjunct Bible course, and then figured my hourly income for that course.  Then I compared that to the hourly rate of the vet for the surgery.  Guess whose hourly rate is higher?  It’s not even close.  That dose of reality can ruin an afternoon.  Or a few days. 

Maybe you know the feeling.  You start thinking thoughts like “It’s not fair.  Our society values the wrong things,” and that can lead to despair.

In Philippians chapter 4:10–13, Paul writes,

“I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, 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 can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

That last sentence is often quoted: “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”  Several other translations say, “I can do all things through him who gives me strength.”  Usually it’s quoted all by itself, ripped away from its context.  I see it on social media, often shortened.  “I can do all things.”  Or sometimes it’s just “All things” where a person is doing something difficult, maybe a tough workout, or maybe climbing a mountain, or starting up a new business venture, and they show a photo of them doing that thing with just the words, “All things, baby,” knowing that so many people get the reference.

“All this” or “All things” could lead us to believe that Paul is talking about literally anything.  But we would do well to read this verse in the context of the surrounding verses Paul has just written. 

Paul is not trying to say, “God will empower you to do literally anything.”  Paul is saying that God wants to empower you for a specific set of things that he has already talked about.

I think that can be instructive for us.  We can say that we are trusting God for a variety of things in our lives.  “Lord, I’m trusting in you to help me get a parking spot in the front row at the mall because I am running late and I need to get in and get out fast.”  Or “Lord, I am trusting you to transform this difficult situation in my life.”  Compared to trusting God about getting a parking space, trusting God to transform a difficult situation sounds like a great thing, doesn’t it? 

But read between the lines with me here.  What do we mean when we say, “I am trusting you God to transform this situation, this person, this _______” (you fill in the blank with the difficult thing you want changed in your life)? What we usually mean is “God I want you to override that person’s free will because I can’t take it anymore.”  But that is trusting God do something that he has not said he will ever do. 

That’s why we need to hear what Paul is saying here.  Just what is Paul saying God will do?  When we put verse 13 in its context, God will strengthen us not in all things, but in a specific set of things. 

So now let’s go back up to verse 10 and discover the context of this verse.  In verse 10 Paul talks about rejoicing.  And it’s not just any normal rejoicing.  Paul describes it as “rejoiced greatly.” Actually the word “greatly” could be translated as “mega-intense.”  When is the last time you rejoiced in the Lord in a way that could be described as “mega-intense”? 

Ever? 

I remember being in Guyana, South America, in the summer between my junior and senior years of college, on a missionary internship. The people there were living in dilapidated wood shacks on dirt roads, working in the brutal heat and humidity cutting sugarcane, and just barely making it, and in some cases not making it, and yet in worship services on Sunday they would belt out praise to the Lord with mega intensity.  I’ll never forget it.  The first time I heard them singing, I thought, “Why are they singing so loud?”  It was obviously different from how I ever heard singing at my church back here in Lancaster. 

I am not suggesting that rejoicing in the Lord can only occur inside church buildings during worship services.  I am also not saying that rejoicing in the Lord is only or always involving singing songs. There are so many ways to rejoice in the Lord. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:31, that whatever we do, whether we eat or drink, do it all to the glory of God.  We can and should worship a lot.  And yet do we?  Do we worship God, thank God, praise God, without the assistance of worship leaders or worship songs, because there is literally so much that we have to be thankful to God for?  Do our hearts bend toward praise?  Or do our hearts bend toward critique, conspiracy, complaint?

Why does Paul rejoice mega-intense?  Because the Christians living there in the city of Philippi renewed their concern for him. The word “renew” could be “revive,” and it has a word picture, that of a flower blooming.  Something that seemed dead has now come to life, the concern that the Philippian Christians had shown for Paul. 

Paul is talking about a generous donation that they made to him so he could keep living.  He was on house arrest when he was writing this letter.  In the Roman Empire, when you were on house arrest, it wasn’t like the Roman government was going to pay for it.  You were on your own.  Paul was only able to be cared for by the good will of his friends sending him money.  So you can see why he is rejoicing mega-intensely at the Philippians’ generosity, which meant that they were thinking about him, remembered him, figured out what he was going through, and then sacrificially gave out of their personal money to care for him. 

And that gives him the opportunity to share some further thoughts about his circumstances.  He says he has learned to be content with whatever is happening. 

Then he describes those circumstances.  Sometimes his circumstances were humble, like people of low status.  Sometimes he had abundance with loads of leftovers, where he more than enough.  Then he says that he has learned the secret to being content, and it has come through personal experience.  My paraphrase of what he says is,

“I have learned the secret to being content, whether I have a smorgasbord’s amount of food to stuff my body to the gills, or whether I am so hungry it feels like my stomach is an empty hole, or whether my life has abundance or whether I feel like I am constantly struggling to catch up.”

So no matter the situation, he can be content.  But what is contentment?  It is being happy with what we already have in our current circumstances.  Other words for this are “satisfied,” “being at peace.”  As I think just about those words, I realize I struggle with discontent.  Peace that is not dependent on external circumstances?  I can struggle with that. 

But Paul says he has learned the secret of being content no matter the circumstances.  So what is the secret? 

Sure, life is filled with all sorts of good and bad situations.  But what is the secret to being content in them all?  What is the secret to finding peace and satisfaction in the midst of the highs and lows of life?

The secret is back in verse 13.  Now that we know the context of verse 13, we can understand this important verse.  The secret to contentment in any circumstance is God’s strength.

God’s strength is not for the purpose of doing whatever we want, or getting whatever we want, or a promise that God will override people’s free will and change our earthly circumstances like we want.  Paul’s point is that the secret to being content, whether life is amazing or whether life is horrible, is God’s strength in the midst of it of any circumstance.  Strength for what?  Strength to do the next right thing.  Strength to live the fruit of the Spirit when we don’t feel like it.  Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.  Strength to redirect our focus on God and rejoice in the midst of the difficult.

But how do access that strength?  Peak back up at verses 4-9.  There Paul shares a whole bunch of practical suggestions for us. 

Verse 4, be people who rejoice. 

Verse 5, live with gentleness to all. 

Verses 6–7, be prayerful, with thanksgiving. 

Verse 8, think about what is good and true and beautiful and right.  

Verse 9, practice doing what godly people do.

This requires intentionality.  Practice.  Building new habits.  Which can and usually does take time and repetition.  It takes being around those who will encourage the habits of contentment in your life. 

And if God is directing us to live this way, and this passage clearly shows God is, then it is for our good and for the good of those around us.  To learn the secret of contentment is for our good.  Dwelling in discontentment is the way of our culture, and that is not for our good.  So it is worth the work and the practice to seek God and his strength to be content.

Photo by 马 赛克 on Unsplash