The first essay we had to write, when at school, was on the subject of “Contentment,” and well do we remember the various illustrations ( of a rural character) that presented themselves to our young mind, as suitable for the subject in hand.
But we knew not then, as now we do, the important place “contentment” really holds in the Word of God, and the solemn contrasts connected with it, therein presented to us.
Will you turn, for an instance, to Luke 12: 16. Here we find a wealthy man. His goods are largely on the increase, and he is full of his own purposes and plans.
“I will do,” “I will pull down,” “I will build,” “I will bestow,” “I will say to my soul,” etc. Occupied with “the things that are seen,” and “are temporal,” he gave no consideration to “the things which are unseen,” and “are eternal.”
This man was CONTENTED WITUT GOD; and what was his end?
“Thou fool! this night thy soul shall be required of thee.” (Verse 20.)
Turn again to Luke 16: 19. Here we are introduced to another “rich man.”
“Clothed in purple and fine linen,” he “fared sumptuously every day.” But, occupied in his “life time” with the “good things” of earth, he ignored the danger of an eternity with its “evil things” being at hand.
This man, likewise was CONTENTED WITHOUT GOD; and what was his end?
“In hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments.” (Verse 23.)
O, my reader! these solemn verities from the Word of God, bringing before us, as they do, the truth that contentment without God is a TERRIBLE LOSS—the loss of one’s soul, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8: 36.
From these two sad instances, let us turn to a very different scene, recorded in Acts 16, a man of God in a dungeon at Philippi, scourged, and thrust into an inner prison, with feet made fast in the stocks, praying and singing praises unto God, rejoicing in tribulation. (Acts 16:2525And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. (Acts 16:25); Romans 5: 3.)
This same man, writing to some of God’s people at Philippi, years afterwards, during his imprisonment at Rome, says:
This man was CONTENTED WITH GOD; and the secret of it was to be found in the fact that he possessed Christ; as a little hymn so simply puts it,
“Possessing Christ, I all possess, — Wisdom, and Life, and righteousness.”
How truly, therefore, it is written, that “Godliness with Contentment is GREAT GAIN.” 1 Timothy. 6:6.
There is a beautifully simple verse in John 1: 12, which says,
“As many as received Him (Jesus), to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name.”
Let me ask, my reader, Have you known what it is to receive Christ as your Saviour? Have you truly believed “on His Name?”
ML08/30/1931