SYNOPSIS: Contentment ought to be a no-brainer for the believer! Why? Because you understand that an infinitely wise, supernaturally resourceful, incredibly generous, intimately involved, all-knowing, all-powerful God will never leave you or forsake you and will see to it that you have what you need. Contentment is a character trait that reveals great confidence in God. It is a spiritual discipline that demonstrates great obedience to God. It is an act of worship that greatly glorifies God. And it is a step of faith that releases the provision and results in the peace of God. So practice contentment!

Project 52—Memorize:
Philippians 4:19

“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

I love this verse and quote it in my prayers for others, and myself, all the time. What a guarantee: God will meet all my needs! Not some of them, but all of them out of the unlimited treasury of heaven that has been made possible for me by the glorious death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Such a deal!

Ah, but wait a minute. Look at the preceding verses. As much as we love to quote this fantastic verse guaranteeing God’s provision, notice how Paul qualifies it with some other thoughts. In verses 11-12, Paul says,

“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I 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, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

That doesn’t sound like a guy who is getting everything he wants—an unlimited supply of stuff to make his life comfortable, successful and pain-free. No, this is a guy who has learned one of the most important disciplines for happiness, one of the essential attitudes for Christian living: Contentment. When you learn the secret of contentment, you will understand how to differentiate between true needs and fleshly wants.

The word translated “content” appears five times in the New Testament—and they all suggest a perfect condition of life in which no aid or support is needed. In extra-biblical Greek, one ancient writer used it to describe a country that supplied itself and had no need for imports. Biblically, contentment means to be satisfied with what God has supplied and confident that he will supply what is needed in the future.  That is why Paul can say in I Timothy 6:6, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”

The Bible not only identifies contentment as a virtue to attain but also as a command to obey.  We’re commanded to be content in every area of life:

• Hebrews 13:5 warns us to resist obsession with material things, “Be content with whatever you have, for God has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’”
• You are to be content with your food and clothing—I Timothy 6:8 says, “And having food and clothing, let us be content.”
• You are to be content with your job and wages—John the Baptist said in Luke 3:14, “be content with your pay.”
• You’re to be content with your marriage—Proverbs 5:18 says, “be satisfied with the wife you married when you were young.”

Contentment ought to be a no-brainer for the believer! Why? Because you understand that an infinitely wise, supernaturally resourceful, incredibly generous, intimately involved, all-knowing, all-powerful God will never leave you or forsake you and will see to it that you have what you need.

Contentment is a character trait that reveals great confidence in God. It is a spiritual discipline that demonstrates great obedience to God. It is an act of worship that greatly glorifies God. And it is a step of faith that releases the provision and results in the peace of God.

So practice contentment!

“Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.” ~Jeremiah Burroughs 

Reflect and Apply: Arthur Pink states, “Instead of complaining at his lot, a contented man is thankful that his condition and circumstances are no worse than they are. Instead of greedily desiring something more than the supply of his present need, he rejoices that God still cares for him. Such a one is ‘content’ with such as he has.” (Hebrews 13:5) Offer a session of praise and thanksgiving this morning—and every morning—and see if contentment doesn’t grow in your life.

SYNOPSIS: Two of the greatest heroes of the Bible—the greatest hero in the Old Testament, and the greatest hero in the New Testament—were noted for their gentleness. These two great men, Moses and Jesus, are the only two the Bible describes as being gentle. Yet they were anything but weak and wimpy, which is how our culture defines gentleness. They were incredibly powerful men. They changed their worlds. Jesus was no weakling; Moses was not a wimpy guy. They were strong, charismatic, winsome individuals, but their lives were guided by love, kindness, compassion, understanding, and patience—in a word, gentleness. Make sure yours is, too!

Project 52—Memorize:
Philippians 4:5

“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.”

When was the last time you prayed, “God, make me a more gentle person”?

Just what I thought!

Back in the 1830’s, George Bethune, a Dutch Reformed pastor and hymn writer, said,“Perhaps no grace is less prayed for, or less cultivated than gentleness.  Indeed it is considered rather as belonging to natural disposition or external manners, than as a Christian Virtue; and seldom do we reflect that not to be gentle is a sin.”

Did you catch that? “Seldom do we reflect that not to be gentle is a sin.”

If that’s true, and I believe it is, then we ought to pay greater attention and give greater effort to making God’s call for gentleness the prominent character feature of our lives? Now that may not be so easy to do, since we live in a culture that venerates power and promotes aggressiveness and elevates domination as much higher virtues than gentleness—by far.  Chances are, none of your heroes, and certainly none of mine, would be noted for their gentle natures.

But let me remind you that two of the greatest heroes of the Bible—the greatest hero in the Old Testament, and the greatest hero in the New Testament—were noted for their gentleness. These two great men, Moses and Jesus, are the only two men the Bible describes as being gentle. But these two were anything but weak and wimpy, which is how our culture defines gentleness. They were incredibly powerful men. They changed their worlds. Jesus was no weakling; Moses was not a wimpy guy. They were strong, charismatic, winsome individuals, but their lives were guided by love, kindness, compassion, understanding and patience—in a word, gentleness.

Biblical gentleness has nothing to do with being weak or inferior. A. W. Tozer says,

“The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather, he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God’s estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God has declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is, in the sight of God, more important than angels…He knows well that the world will never see him as God sees him and he has stopped caring.”

The secular Greeks used the word for gentleness to describe people or things that had a soothing quality about them. It was used of words that calmed a person who was agitated, bitter, angry or resentful. It also referred to an ointment that soothed the pain of a wound. It even meant to tranquilize. And it referred to a powerful leader, such as a king, who had the power and authority to harm or punish, but could be gentle and forgiving of human errors. Gentleness was power under control: It is being strong enough to be gentle.

It is gentleness, in all of these senses, that Paul says is to be evident in us for all to see. So let me suggest that your gentleness ought to be evident to the following people in your life:

• Number one, with the people who serve you. Take time to be tender with those who meet your needs.
• Number two, with the people who disappoint you. Be compassionate and gracious, refuse to be judgmental and harsh.
• Number three, with the people who disagree with you. Be tender without surrender.
• Number four, with the people who correct you. Be teachable and submissive, not stubborn and inflexible.
• Number five, with the people who hurt you. Refuse to react. Respond with acts of love.
• Number six, with people who don’t share your beliefs. Refuse to be critical.
• Number seven, with the people that live under your roof and in your own home. Be the embodiment of Biblical gentleness with your own flesh and blood.

The God to whom you belong is by nature gentle. He has given you his Holy Spirit to produce the fruit or character of gentleness within you. Now the only question that remains is, will you clothe yourself with his gentleness?

“Mildness in dealing with others…it is to display a sensitive regard for others and is careful never to be unfeeling for the rights of others.”  ~Billy Graham

Reflect and Apply: Here are a few ideas for putting on gentleness: One, reflect on the gentleness of God toward you. Two, ask God to produce gentleness in your life. And three, pray for a specific person on whom you can bestow gentleness.

The underlying spirit in all complaints is that we don’t trust the sovereign plan of God that has allowed us to be in the undesirable state about which we are complaining. Likewise, our complaint indicates that we don’t trust that his power will see us through it and accomplish his purposes by it. That is why all complaints, even if they are directed at another person or a situation, is really a complaint, a sin, against the Sovereign Lord. And what makes it worse, complaining spreads like a wildfire, leaving the ashes of doubt and distrust in its aftermath. We must reject our spiritual temper-tantrums for tempered trust in the One who does all things well.

A Simple Prayer To Not Be A Whiner:

The Apostle Paul taught that the experience of authentic joy in the Lord is so important to the believer that he will keep teaching it over and over until we get it. And in fact, he says, Christian joy safeguards our faith. Now just what is it that our faith needs to be safeguarded from? Simply this: Trying to achieve salvation—the fountainhead of our joy—through human effort. When we know our salvation was paid in full by the work of Another, how could we not be the most joyful beings on the face of the planet!

“ Rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard to you. —PHILIPPIANS 3:1

A Simple Prayer for Greater Rejoicing:

A higher perspective is the key to sustaining the joy of the Lord through the ups and downs you will experience in life. The Apostle Paul wrote his letter of joy—Philippians—during a four-year stint in a Roman jail awaiting trial. Imprisonment wasn’t prison for Paul; it was a platform for proclaiming Christ to an unexpected crowd: the Praetorian guards who watch over him 24/7, the Roman court that hear his case, and even those in the household of Nero Caesar, some of whom came to know Christ. Paul leveraged his limitations. And so can you if you learn to see advantage in your disadvantages. If you do, your detour through unpleasant territory will become a doorway to joy.

“ I want you to know that what happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. —PHILIPPIANS 1:12

A Simple Prayer for Clear Seeing:

When troubles comes your way, do you pray, “God change this!” or “God use this!”? The latter prayer is a higher way to pray. It is a prayer for discipleship, not deliverance. And it is a great way to partner with the God who will use all things for his glory and for your good, namely, to conform you to the image of Christ. And the greatest attribute of discipleship you could ever attain—which by the way, is to look like Jesus—is to love like Jesus.

A Simple Prayer for Greater Love:

The key to personal peace in the midst of anxiety producing circumstances is to think rightly. That means to deeply, rationally and habitually think about the things of God. That is not referring simply to positive thinking, mere optimism, self-hypnosis or silly mind-games. It is to set what the Bible declares about God as the gate-keeper of your mind. Do that and you will unleash God’s peace to protect your heart and guard your mind.

A Simple Prayer for Personal Peace:

God, in a world that does nothing but promote chaos, anxiety and human striving, I lift the concerns of my life, my needs and desires, to you. I present them before your throne in trust, with confidence, and with thanksgiving in advance of what you are going to do. Now I accept your peace that surpasses human understanding. Cause it to protect my heart and guard my mind in Christ Jesus.

Reflect:
Philippians 4:19

“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

I love this verse and quote it in my prayers for others, and myself, all the time. What a guarantee: God will meet all my needs! Not some of them, but all of them out of the unlimited treasury of heaven that has been made possible for me by the glorious death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Such a deal!

Ah, but wait a minute. Look at the preceding verses. As much as we love to quote this fantastic verse guaranteeing God’s provision, notice how Paul qualifies it with some other thoughts. In verses 11-12, Paul says,

“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I 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, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

That doesn’t sound like a guy who is getting everything he wants—an unlimited supply of stuff to make his life comfortable, successful and pain-free. No, this is a guy who has learned one of the most important disciplines for happiness, one of the essential attitudes for Christian living: Contentment. When you learn the secret of contentment, you will understand how to differentiate between true needs and fleshly wants.

The word translated “content” appears five times in the New Testament—and they all suggest a perfect condition of life in which no aid or support is needed. In extra-biblical Greek, one ancient writer used it to describe a country that supplied itself and had no need for imports. Biblically, contentment means to be satisfied with what God has supplied and confident that he will supply what is needed in the future. That is why Paul can say in I Timothy 6:6, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”

The Bible not only identifies contentment as a virtue to attain, but also as a command to obey. We’re commanded to be content in every area of life:

Hebrews 13:5 warns us to resist obsession with material things, “Be content with whatever you have, for God has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’”

You are to be content with your food and clothing—I Timothy 6:8 says, “And having food and clothing, let us be content.”

You are to be content with your job and wages—John the Baptist said in Luke 3:14, “be content with your pay.”

You’re to be content with your marriage—Proverbs 5:18 says, “be satisfied with the wife you married when you were young.”

Contentment ought to be a no-brainer for the believer! Why? Because you understand that an infinitely wise, supernaturally resourceful, incredibly generous, intimately involved, all-knowing, all-powerful God will never leave you or forsake you and will see to it that you have what you need.

Contentment is a character trait that reveals great confidence in God. It is a spiritual discipline that demonstrates great obedience to God. It is an act of worship that greatly glorifies God. And it is a step of faith that releases the provision and results in the peace of God.

So practice contentment!

“Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.” ~Jeremiah Burroughs

Reflect and Apply: Arthur Pink states, “Instead of complaining at his lot, a contented man is thankful that his condition and circumstances are no worse than they are. Instead of greedily desiring something more than the supply of his present need, he rejoices that God still cares for him. Such an one is ‘content’ with such as he has.” (Hebrews 13:5) Offer a session of praise and thanksgiving this morning—and every morning—and see if contentment doesn’t grow in your life.

Reflect:
Philippians 4:2-9

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)

Do you want to know the key to everything in your life? Here it is: It is how you think.

The term Paul uses for “think” in this verse is from the Greek term “logizomai”. It literally means to compute, to calculate—to think deliberately, proactively and strategically. It speaks of an exercise in mental reflection that affects one’s conduct.

Now herein lies an important truth about the human mind: What we do—our behavior—and what is done to us—our circumstances—do not produce what we think. Rather, what we think produces our behavior in any given set of circumstances.

Psychiatrist William Glasser, the father of reality therapy, discovered in his study of how the brain works that man isn’t controlled by external factors, but by internal desires. Furthermore, our desires are predetermined by our thinking. So he concludes that the mind is the command center determining conduct, and therefore, the critical issue for man is how he thinks.

Glasser only discovered what the Bible had long ago said—that we are the product of our thinking. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks within himself, so he is.” We are what we think! That’s why Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart” — the heart in Hebrew thought was the center of thinking — “for it is the wellspring of life.”

So if you want to improve your experience of life, deliberately and strategically change your thinking. When Paul says, “think about”, he doesn’t mean leave it up to whatever pops into your brain. He’s saying to intentionally and rigidly allow only certain things into your mind. He is referring to the spiritual discipline of setting godly virtues and Biblical values as the gate-keeper of your mind. He is not simply talking about positive thinking, mere optimism, self-hypnosis or silly mind-games. Rather, he is saying to think deeply, rationally and habitually about the things of God.

God created us with a mind, and he commands us to think. Isaiah 1:18 says, “Come now, let us reason together.” And the primary path for our reasoning is to be God’s Word. When God gave us his revelation, he didn’t give us a movie, or a series of music videos, not even a book on tape with background organ music. He gave us the written Word, which by nature calls us and causes us to think.

When you get serious about the spiritual discipline of Biblical thinking, it will produce a new pattern of thinking. That new pattern of thinking will produce a new pattern of living. That new pattern of living will lead to a new experience of life, the abundant life, that Jesus said he came to give.

Everything God’s wants you to experience in this life is keyed by how you think. Ruthlessly tune out that which is inconsistent with Biblical truth and evaluate everything that presents itself to you with your Scriptural values (Philippians 4:8), then simply practice thinking. Then what you think will produce Godly behavior.

Allow the mind of the Master to be the master of your mind.

“Sow a thought, and you reap an act; Sow an act, and you reap a habit; Sow a habit, and you reap a character; Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.”

Reflect and Apply: Let the truth of God’s Word saturate your mind before you leave the house today. Ask God to take my mind and let it be always, only thinking of him throughout the day. Let the mind of the Master be the master of your mind, and allow your thinking to produce Christlikeness in all you do.

Reflect:
Philippians 4:5

“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.”

When was the last time you prayed, “God, make me a more gentle person”?

Just what I thought!

Back in the 1830’s, George Bethune, a Dutch Reformed pastor and hymn writer, said,“Perhaps no grace is less prayed for, or less cultivated than gentleness. Indeed it is considered rather as belonging to natural disposition or external manners, than as a Christian Virtue; and seldom do we reflect that not to be gentle is a sin.”

Did you catch that? “Seldom do we reflect that not to be gentle is a sin.”

If that’s true, and I believe it is, then we ought to pay greater attention and give greater effort to making God’s call for gentleness the prominent character feature of our lives? Now that may not be so easy to do, since we live in a culture that venerates power and promotes aggressiveness and elevates domination as much higher virtues than gentleness—by far. Chances are, none of your heroes, and certainly none of mine, would be noted for their gentle natures.

But let me remind you that two of the greatest heroes of the Bible—the greatest hero in the Old Testament, and the greatest hero in the New Testament—were noted for their gentleness. These two great men, Moses and Jesus, are the only two men the Bible describes as being gentle. But these two were anything but weak and wimpy, which is how our culture defines gentleness. They were incredibly powerful men. They changed their worlds. Jesus was no weakling; Moses was not a wimpy guy. They were strong, charismatic, winsome individuals, but their lives were guided by love, kindness, compassion, understanding and patience—in a word, gentleness.

Biblical gentleness has nothing to do with being weak or inferior. A. W. Tozer says,

“The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather, he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God’s estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God has declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is, in the sight of God, more important than angels…He knows well that the world will never see him as God sees him and he has stopped caring.”

The secular Greeks used the word for gentleness to describe people or things that had a soothing quality about them. It was used of words that calmed a person who was agitated, bitter, angry or resentful. It also referred to an ointment that soothed the pain of a wound. It even meant to tranquilize. And it referred to a powerful leader, such as a king, who had the power and authority to harm or punish, but could be gentle and forgiving of human errors. Gentleness was power under control: It is being strong enough to be gentle.

It is gentleness, in all of these senses, that Paul says is to be evident in us for all to see. So let me suggest that your gentleness ought to be evident to the following people in your life:

• Number one, with the people who serve you. Take time to be tender with those who meet your needs.
• Number two, with the people who disappoint you. Be compassionate and gracious, refuse to be judgmental and harsh.
• Number three, with the people who disagree with you. Be tender without surrender.
• Number four, with the people who correct you. Be teachable and submissive, not stubborn and inflexible.
• Number five, with the people who hurt you. Refuse to react. Respond with acts of love.
• Number six, with people who don’t share your beliefs. Refuse to be critical.
• Number seven, with the people that live under your roof and in your own home. Be the embodiment of Biblical gentleness with your own flesh and blood.

The God to whom you belong is by nature gentle. He has given you his Holy Spirit to produce the fruit or character of gentleness within you. Now the only question that remains is, will you clothe yourself with his gentleness?

“Mildness in dealing with others…it is to display a sensitive regard for others and is careful never to be unfeeling for the rights of others.” ~Billy Graham

Reflect and Apply: Here are a few ideas for putting on gentleness: One, reflect on the gentleness of God toward you. Two, ask God to produce gentleness in your life. And three, pray for a specific person on whom you can bestow gentleness.