Learned Behavior. If we are waiting for contentment to "kick in," it never will. We lost our natural contentment when our first parents lost theirs in Eden. We must, like Paul, learn to be content in the same way babies learn to walk. We can learn such an unnatural disposition only by means of supernatural grace. This means practice, practice, and more practice. In partnership with a spouse, good friend, or small study group, we must learn to resist, in the power of the Holy Spirit, the discontentment of our age.
Not Dependent on Circumstances. Paul says he has learned to be content, regardless of his circumstance—even in jail. We can learn to be content in all circumstances too. The same Holy Spirit who indwelt Paul indwells us. The same fruit of the Spirit—peace and self-control—that were manifest in his life can be manifest in ours. When we are tempted to feel discontented, we need to look at our focus. We usually want something different—something bigger, better, faster, newer, or more comfortable—because we have been deceived. Remember the truth that true contentment and character are demonstrated in challenging circumstances. Temporary satisfaction caused by our circumstances is not contentment at all.
A State of Being, Not a State of Doing. Our flesh feels contentment when we are doing—buying, achieving, surpassing, and accumulating. But such activities eventually end, and with them our contentment. Being, however, does not end; it is not tied to activity. Paul says he has learned to "be content," not to "do contentment."
Based on the Riches of God in Christ Jesus. These words are no mere religious platitude. They express the very truth of God and the basis for our living as contented people. They place us back in the Garden of Eden before the Fall, when everything Adam and Eve needed was supplied by their Father God. The Bible says that God supplies everything we need to complete our journey from earth to heaven; therefore, any things that cause us discontentment are almost certainly things we do not need to complete our journey.
