Contentment #2: The Mystery of Contentment

by Dennis Michelson
(Painesville, Ohio)

I Timothy 6:6: "But godliness with contentment is great gain."

Introduction: This is the second in a series of messages on contentment. Christian contentment is always a mystery and often full of paradoxes. Consider these.

1. A Christian is the most contented person and the most unsatisfied person at the same time (Psalm 73:25)

2. A Christian comes to contentment by way of subtraction, not addition (Proverbs 17:1)

The world must have its possessions raised to its desires while the believer brings his desires down to his possessions.

3. A Christian comes to contentment by adding a burden to himself, not by ridding himself of the original burden (Psalm 119:67)

4. A Christian comes to contentment when he finds riches in his poverty (I Timothy 6:6)

5. A Christian comes to contentment not by changing his circumstances but performing the work of his circumstances (Acts 13:36)

6. A Christian comes to contentment when there is no gap between the desires of his heart and the demands of God's will (Psalm 47:4)

7. A Christian comes to contentment not by bringing something from the outside but purging something on the inside (James 4:1)

Great is the mystery of godliness . . .