It may seem odd to include a post about Contentment where the central theme is Pursuing God. But I believe that Contentment is actually a very key part of a life in pursuit of God, such that this life is not occupied pursuing the things of this world!
In my daily morning devotional, the Olive Tree One Year Daily Devotional, the entry for April 30 was an excerpt from “The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment” by Jeremiah Burroughs (1600-1646).
The entire entry is very much worth reading:
April 30 – Not Satisfied With the World
Topic: Contentment
It may be said of one who is contented in a Christian way that he is the most contented man in the world, and yet the most unsatisfied man in the world. These two together must be mysterious. Just as he is the most contented, so also he is the most unsatisfied man in the world.
A man who has learned the art of contentment is the most contented with any low condition that he has in the world, and yet he cannot be satisfied with the enjoyment of all the world. He is contented if he has but a crust, but bread and water, and he can be satisfied with God’s disposal in that. Yet, if God should give him kingdoms and empires, all the world to rule, if he should give them to him, he would not be satisfied with that. Here is the mystery of it: his heart is so enlarged that the enjoyment of ten thousand worlds cannot satisfy him, though he has a heart quieted under God’s disposal. Though he is contented with God in a little, those things that would content other men will not content him. The men of the world seek after wealth and think if they had this much that they would be content. They do not aim at great things, but some man thinks, if I had only two or three hundred a year, then I should be well enough. If I had but a hundred a year or a thousand a year, says another, then I should be satisfied. But a gracious heart says that if he had ten hundred thousand times so much a year, it would not satisfy him, even if he had the quintessence of all the excellences of all the creatures in the world. This man can sing and be merry and joyful when he has only a crust of bread and a little water. Godliness teaches us this mystery of not being satisfied with all the world and yet being content with the meanest condition.
A soul capable of God can be filled with nothing else but God. Though a gracious heart knows that it is capable of God, and was made for God, carnal hearts think without reference to God. A godly heart will not only have the mercy, but the God of that mercy as well, and then a little matter is enough in the world as long as he has the God of the mercy he enjoys. In Philippians 4 compare verse 7 with verse 9: “And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” The peace of God shall keep your hearts. Then in verse 9, “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me — practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” The peace of God shall keep you, and the God of peace shall be with you.
“The peace of God shall keep you, and the God of peace shall be with you.”
Perfectly said.