It seems as though pursuing happiness is the creed of this age. We will do anything to be happy. Of course, media and culture tell you that if you have more, buy more, achieve more, then you will be happy. Your happiness is at stake if you don’t have the latest vacuum cleaner which will make your home so shiny and beautiful! And that beautiful new car that drives you in ecstatic happiness with the love of your life to your favorite destination! A bigger house. More clothes. Less wrinkles. More muscles! More money!!!
It alarmed me to find that on Amazon you can find over 20,000 self-help books with ‘happiness’ in the title. How to be happy. The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama. 52 Lists for Happiness. The Happiness Recipe. Transformation to Happiness. The Happiness Advantage. How Happiness Happens. The list is endless! Those who have unlimited wealth have not found this elusive happiness, John D. Rockefeller said, “𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴.”
𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝘀𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝘀𝘂𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱? 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿-𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹?
1 Tim 6:6-10 says this; “𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙜𝙤𝙙𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣. 𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙬𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙩. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙬𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙬𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙥 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙪𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. 𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙡. 𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚, 𝙚𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙮, 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙞𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙛𝙨.”
Godliness with contentment is great gain! That’s the advantage, that’s the reward – contentment. My heart breaks to see those who are discontent, those who want to get rich, are plunged into ruin and destruction and some of them wander from their faith.
I remember so many years ago when I read how Paul had ‘learned’ to be content, I decided that if Paul could learn it then I could learn it too! Here’s how the Amplified Bible puts Philippians 4:11, “𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 [𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡] 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙, 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩 [𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛-𝙨𝙪𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝘾𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙩, 𝙨𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙗𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙧 𝙪𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙮] 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙞𝙧𝙘𝙪𝙢𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨.” This didn’t mean that Paul was pacified with the status quo or didn’t want to change the world, but he was never disturbed or uneasy, self-sufficient through Christ!
And so today I have a challenge, one for me as much as for you! 𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿, 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗛𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀. Let’s set aside ‘happiness’ for contentment and ask the LORD to teach us how to do this. Let’s stop looking at what others have and hungering after anything but our God. This I know, our Father wants us to be content, satisfied with who we are, trusting in who He is, and He will show us the way.
Claire's Prayer 