Ep. 42 | Contentment | Philippians

Listen in as Pastor Eddie Blalock shares today’s daily devotional featuring Philippians 4:10-14. Let’s be Formed by The Word together!

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Transcript

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Welcome to Formed by the Word, a podcast where we don't just read the Bible, we invite it to shape our lives. In each episode, Pastor Eddie Blaylock will provide daily devotionals seeking to connect real scripture to real life. We'll be starting with the book of Philippians. This incredible letter clearly reveals how life in Christ shapes a resilient faith and a joy that is not dependent on circumstances. So wherever you're listening, whether you're driving, working out, or just scrolling for something meaningful, lean in, open your heart, and let's be formed by the word together.

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In one of his most famous fables, the legendary storyteller Aesop once told a story of a dog who was carrying a juicy bone in his mouth. The dog crossed a bridge over a stream and was looking down. As he looked down, he saw its own reflection in the water and mistook it for another dog holding what appeared to be a larger, better bone. Greedy to seize the better prize, the dog opened its mouth to grab the reflective bone and dropped its own bone into the water and lost everything. Aesop said the moral of the story is that greed and discontent can cause you to lose what you already possess. True contentment means appreciating your current blessings instead of chasing illusions of more. I think Aesop is right. Today we've come to one of the most well-known verses in the New Testament. In fact, some people who are familiar with the verse may not even realize it comes from the Bible. The verse says this I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Have you seen that? Perhaps you've seen it in athletic events, perhaps in other places. It's a very common, well-known verse. Well, that's where we've come to in Philippians. We've come to chapter four, verses 10 through 14, and that famous verse is verse 14. Many athletes still refer to this verse. Often in their search for motivation and confidence, they placed it somewhere on their bodies or on their equipment. And I don't see anything wrong with the use of the scripture that way, but I suppose everything depends on how you define all things. In its context, the verse is referring to a very clear all things. I can do all things. He's very clear about it. The all things that Paul refers to is not about athletic achievement, economic prowess, or ability to win. The all things that Paul is reaching for here is contentment. That's right, contentment. Quite different, right? That's why this next collection of verses speaks so loudly and strongly to us. Paul addresses the subject of contentment. He had learned the he calls secret to contentment. He had learned that he could indeed learn to be content. Wouldn't you like to grasp that? I think we all want contentment. We just have a hard time arriving there. Well, there are several things that I observe as I read this text slowly and contemplatively that I want to share with you for a moment. The first thing I notice is in verse ten, Paul had some tough days. Even the apostle Paul, even the man of God who is so powerfully spiritually mature, he had some tough days. He starts this section of the letter with this word, verse 10, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly because once again you renewed your care for me. Wow, there you go. He needed some care. He says, You were in fact concerned about me, but lacked the opportunity to show it. So Paul obviously was having some tough times. He needed someone to care for him. He needed someone to be concerned about him. Well, we all have tough days, and Paul was no different. The second thing I observed is found in the next verse, verse 11. I see that Paul had learned to be content in every circumstance in life. Now, this is where this gets difficult, right? Listen to what he wrote. He said, I don't say this out of need. In other words, I'm not asking you for your help and your care and your children, because I need this. He says, for I have learned. This is a learned response. I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself in. So much there, right? Here we see that contentment was a learned process for Paul. It was not natural. It didn't come just because he gave his heart to Jesus. He wasn't perfected in this immediately. It was a learned process. I have learned to be content. We understand, don't we, that contentment was developed over time. And it's no different for you and I. We can expect the same. We can expect it to be a process, not an immediate moment. But contentment is available. The third thing I want you to see is that Paul's contentment was not altered by whatever situation he found himself in. Listen to verse 12. He says, I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. Notice the comparisons here. He says, In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content, whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. Wow, what contentment in every situation, no matter where we find ourselves in. So what was the source of Paul's contentment? How did he learn this? How did he gain this contentment? He reveals it in verse 13. He says, I am able to do all things through Christ who strengthens me. There's our verse. Wow. So it's not found in the context of winning a game or having athletic prowess or financial giftedness. No. It's in a context of contentment. I have learned to be content when I learn that Christ becomes my source of contentment. He's saying I can endure circumstance because Christ strengthens me. He's not saying I can achieve anything I dream. Don't miss that. He's saying that I can endure anything God allows. It's been my experience that Christ doesn't always change the situation we find ourselves in, no matter how tough it may be. Now, sometimes he does, but sometimes he strengthens the person instead of removing the problem. Paul experiences in his own life. He wrote to the Corinthian church these words, chapter 12, verse 9. He said, My grace is sufficient for you. This is Christ speaking to him. He had prayed. He had prayed for God to remove what he called a thorn in his flesh. I don't know, there was something in his life that just plagued him, that bothered him. Now, some scholars have been led to believe that maybe it was poor eyesight, and he felt like he could just do so much more if he could see better. There's good reason for that. We don't know for sure. And I think the reason we don't know for sure is because it applies to so many areas of our life. He says, When you're going through difficulty, when you're going through trouble, remember this my grace is sufficient for you. It doesn't matter what your circumstance, it doesn't matter where you find yourself, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Or maybe Paul is remembering the word of the psalmist in Psalm 55, 22, who says, Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you. He didn't say he will remove the burden, he said he will sustain you. Elizabeth Elliot knew something about suffering. In 1956, her young husband Jim and four other missionaries were killed by the Auka people in Ecuador. She wrote about the account in her bestseller through the gates of splendor. In a later book, Keep a Quiet Heart, Elizabeth wrote these words. Listen, she said, The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances. That is so good. May I repeat that? The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances. You see, she emphasized that the real victory is Christ living in us amid unchanged hardships. Warren Wearsby said something close. He wrote, God doesn't always change the circumstances, but he can change us to meet the circumstances. So let's put some handles on these very important verses. First of all, I think these teach us that we can find contentment in any situation if our focus is on Christ. If we don't focus on our predicament, but rather focus on God's promise, we can find contentment in that situation. Secondly, I'm convinced it teaches us that every season of life can be fulfilling if we embrace our spiritual formation, if we understand that Christ is forming us into his image, then sometimes that forming requires some fire in our life, some difficult situations. So I think I take from this that I want to determine not to waste any season of life that I'm currently found in. I want to embrace the learning process. I want to embrace even times of waiting, even times of lack, even times of change, even difficulty in my life. Let's not waste those seasons. Let's learn from them. And I think finally I would say this stop trying to power through and control everything. If you want to find contentment, stop trying to just power through the situation you're in, and stop trying to control the situation and simply trust. Determine to depend on Christ moment by moment, situation and circumstance by circumstance. Learn to trust him. I know there's tension there. A tension to manage. How can we be ambitious that he also calls for and yet be content? That's probably best left for another podcast. Let me leave you with this takeaway. Contentment isn't found in what you have, it's found in who has you. Father in heaven, I thank you for this day. I thank you that there is a road to contentment for us. Lord, thank you for revealing that road, that source of contentment in Jesus. May we trust Him today in whatever circumstance we find ourselves, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Thanks for joining us today. We are so glad that you chose to spend a few moments with us in God's Word. If this episode has encouraged you, we ask that you leave us a review or maybe share this episode with a friend. Also, would you consider sending us a note to let us know what God is doing in your life? Pastor Eddie would love to hear from you. You can find this email in the show notes. Until next time, stay in the scriptures, keep following Christ, and allow your life to be formed by the Word.