I\u2019d like you to believe that \u201cI have learned, in whatsoever state I am in, to be content.” (Philippians 4:11) That means we are satisfied with the life or situation we are in. But those are Paul the Apostle\u2019s words \u2013 not mine. I’ll admit I can find myself less than contented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today my sweetheart and I are going on our honeymoon. We put it off until now when we actually have the time to go. We are heading to Puerto Vallarta, a most wonderful gift given to us by our children. We are so grateful!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, you know what? Of all things, I see a friend’s post, also going on their honeymoon. She comments: “Headed on our epic honeymoon. Can’t wait! If you have suggestions in London, Prague, Austria, Germany, Switzerland or Italy — let us know!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I commented on her post. “How wonderful and blessed you are! I am so happy for you. Make lots of memories. We are delighted to be headed to Puerto Vallarta for a week for our honeymoon! How good God is to us! Love and blessings to you!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BUT, as I read and commented on her post, I had that gnawing twinge of discontentment. Of all things, when I am so excited about our trip and I should be over-the-moon grateful, the enemy of my soul tries to steal my joy AND contentment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s what I know. God is more interested in our gratitude and satisfaction in what we have been blessed with. And, oh how blessed I have been. Soaking up contentment means our joy and happiness doesn’t depend at all on our circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How do we eliminate discontent? We eliminate the cause: comparing. Yesiree — the comparison game that is so easy to play here on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We compare everything — homes, clothes, cars, vacations (I was caught red-handed!), hairstyles, cooking, and even the education of our kids. We even taunt others with a photo of our kid holding a sign that says: “My Kid is Student of the Month!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whenever we compare, we\u2019re going to become discontent. We must learn to stop comparing ourselves to others. Paul continues in Philippians 4:12, \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Contentment doesn’t come naturally; it is something we have to learn. If we do this, God promises to meet all our needs. 1 Timothy 6:6-7 says: \u201cThere is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, and we will take nothing out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the greatest secrets in learning to be content is to realize everything we have is on loan to us for a few decades! We just get to use it while we\u2019re here on earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s called “stewardship”. We are the manager of what God allows us to have while we\u2019re here, but it\u2019s not really ours. When we understand that we\u2019re just a manager of the blessings God allows in our lives, and we hold them with an open hand, we won\u2019t be uptight about losing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am purposing to be content because I know that God can turn off one faucet and turn on another just as easily. So, with Paul, I say: “I have learned, in whatsoever state (or city or country) I am in, to be content.” Thanks, God, I needed this blog today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019d like you to believe that \u201cI have learned, in whatsoever state I am in, to be content.” (Philippians 4:11) That means we are satisfied with the life or situation we are in. But those are Paul the Apostle\u2019s words \u2013 not mine. I’ll admit I can find myself less than contented. Today my sweetheart…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[28277,1210,1769,28275,23637,347,196,28276,19753,1392,40,12714,351,11187,3208,353,28278],"class_list":["post-18889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-1-timothy-66-7","tag-blog","tag-christian","tag-compare","tag-comparison","tag-contented","tag-contentment","tag-discontent","tag-discontentment","tag-facebook","tag-inspiration","tag-paul-the-apostle","tag-philippians-411","tag-puerto-vallarta","tag-satisfaction","tag-satisfied","tag-stewardship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18889"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18895,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18889\/revisions\/18895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}