The Mystery of Contentment, Part 2
If you did not read the first part of this blog, please do
so as this is the second installment.
These are some more of my gleanings from Jeremiah Burroughs’ works on
contentment. I hope they are an
encouragement and challenge to you.
6. James 4:1 states, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights
among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?” The discontentment that we experience is not
so much from things outside of us, but from what dwells within us. The way to contentment is to purge out our worldly
desires and lusts, not to acquire more things.
We must make an effort to redirect our inward desires from the things of
the world Godward. As we desire God
more, the things of this world will lose their appeal.
7. We must also
understand that God demands all of our affection! In the words of Burroughs, “You know when a
man has water coming into his house through several pipes, and he finds
insufficient water comes into his wash-house, he will rather stop the other
pipes, that he may have all the water come in where he wants it. Perhaps then,
God had a stream of your affection running to Him when you enjoyed these
things; yes, but a great deal was allowed to escape to the creature, a great
deal of your affections ran waste. Now
the Lord would not have the affections of his children to run waste; therefore
he has cut off your other pipes that your heart might flow wholly to him.”
The very fact that nothing in this world truly and finally
satisfies us is simply the grace of God drawing us to Himself; the only one who
can fully and finally satisfy us. Maybe,
in our discontentment God is simply closing us off from more and more of the
world that cannot satisfy in order to drive us closer and closer to the only
one that can satisfy: Himself.
8. The one who is
filled with good things is just like many a man who enjoys an abundance of
comforts in his own house. God grants
him a pleasant home, a good wife, and many pleasures. A man who has it all at home does not care
much for going out. Other men are eager
to go out and see friends, because they have discontent and strife at
home. So, a carnal man has little contentment
in his own spirit. He is constantly
searching, constantly looking. When our
hearts are filled with the pleasures of God, we are not as prone to wander.
If you were to break a glass bottle full of water, it will
break rather quietly. But, if you pour
the water out and then break the glass bottle, it will make a loud noise. So it is with the heart: a heart full of grace and goodness within
will survive many blows, many attacks, and many lures quietly—but if an empty
heart is struck, it will make a noise.
When some men and women are complaining so much, it is a sign that there
is emptiness in their hearts.
Many think, if I had what another man has, how happily and
comfortably should I live! But if you
are a Christian, whatever your condition, you have enough with Christ. Isaiah 43:2 said, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the
rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not
be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”
9. 2 Corinthians 4:17
says, “For this slight momentary
affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” This is what really separates the men from
the boys so to speak. What enables
believers to be content is simply the fact that our rewards, our blessings, our
hope is not in this life. We are not
expecting our best life now! We know
that it is yet to come if heaven is our home.
A carnal heart has no contentment from what he sees before him in this
world, but a godly heart has contentment from what he sees laid up for him in
the highest heavens.
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