Hebrews 13:5

CHRISTIAN CONTENTMENT

‘Be content with such things as ye have.’

Hebrews 13:5

Christian contentment—what is it? To be contented is to be satisfied; it is the amen of spirit with regard to what is—

I. Christian contentment presupposes effort.—It is clear that something is presupposed in the command, ‘Be ye content with such things as ye have,’ for the poor, the sick, the prosperous are nowhere required not to improve their case. We are not to be content with many things that we have, nor with anything short of our best. Then contentment would mean stagnation and presently death; the world only exists by a continual effort for something higher, which is clearly God’s law. This command, therefore, is given to men already under the law of aspiration, effort, improvement. Divine content is satisfaction after effort, and with such results as it pleases God to give to effort; to aim at the utmost, and only gain the least, and then bow the head in acquiescence, saying, ‘Even so, Father.’

II. Christian contentment implies a certain amount of failure.—There is no room for its exercise where matters cannot be improved; you could not speak of the angels as contented. Joy is the word for heaven, contentment for earth; we shall leave contentment behind when we reach the perfect life; it belongs to dark scenes, and broken hopes, and painful trials. We say we cannot be contented when our circumstances are disheartening, but if so, we cannot be contented at all; suffering is the only sphere in which it is possible. It was to the poor and persecuted and scattered Hebrews that the Apostle wrote, ‘Be ye content.’

III. Christian contentment delivers us from the power of circumstances.—It is not ‘Be content with so much,’ but ‘with such things as ye have.’ This is one of the great demands possible to God’s people. Contentment is not a doing without things because we must, that is possible apart from Christian grace; it is repose, satisfaction, the heart saying, ‘Thy will be done.’ To attain to that is to reign as a king over our circumstances.