Where In The Bible Will I Find:

Contentment Versus Satisfaction?

The apostle Paul wrote both about contentment and satisfaction, although our English word "satisfaction" does not appear in his letters. In one of the most beautiful and inspiring books in the world - the Philippian letter - Paul urged the Philippian Christians to give generously and lovingly to support the preaching of the gospel.

"Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4:11-13).

As is obvious from Paul's statements in the preceding verses, contentment does not depend on one's outward circumstances. After all, when Paul wrote the Philippian letter he was in a Roman prison which was not likely to have provided the comforts of home, as do many of our modem American prisons.

In his life's activities, he often suffered at the hands of God's enemies (II Cor. 11:23-28). He did not always have a warm place to live. Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey's book, Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1993), insists that "contentment is an inner state."

"I found," said Dr. Brand who spent most of his adult life in Vellore, India, treating lepers, "deep contentment in people who lived in conditions of poverty that we in the west would look with pity or horror…The more we let our level of contentment be determined by outside factors - a new car, fashionable clothes, prestigious career, social status - the more we relinquish control over our own happiness" (p. 293).

The apostle Paul had learned by God's grace to be content - needing only God and His Word to sustain him. But this great apostle was not satisfied. "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended (to have laid hold of): but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:13-14).

If Paul had been satisfied with his accomplishments - which were many and very impressive - he would not have had the desire to "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." When one is satisfied, there are no more lessons to be learned, no more hills to be climbed, no more goals to be reached.

Life becomes boring, useless, purposeless and meaningless. Friends, let us be as the great apostle Paul - be content with what we have. God knows the things we have need of, He will provide for our daily needs, and He will never leave nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5).