Some one has said that if men were to be saved by contentment, instead of by faith in Christ, most people would be lost. Yet contentment is possible. There was one man at least who said, and said it very honestly, “I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content.” His words have special value, too, when we remember in what circumstances they were written. They were dated in a prison, when the writer was wearing a chain. It is easy enough to say such things in the summer days of prosperity, but to say them amid trials and adversities requires a real experience of victorious living.
But just what did Paul mean when he said, “I am content”? The original word, scholars tell us, contains a fine sense which does not come out into the English translation. It means self-sufficing. St. Paul, as a Christian man, had in himself all that he needed to give him tranquility and peace. Therefore he was not dependent upon any external circumstances. Wherever he went, there was in himself a competence, a fountain of supply, a self-sufficing. This is the true secret of Christian contentment wherever it is found. We cannot keep away from our lives the sickness, the pain, the sorrow, the misfortune; yet as Christians we are meant to live in any experience in unbroken peace, in sweet restfulness of soul.
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