Let us be content

sermon by Manfred Schreyer

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Phil 4:11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. :12 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. :13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

If there is one thing in life we seek, it certainly would be contentment.

As we walk through this life we notice that we are often/sometimes unhappy with a situation we are in.

In fact I know people who’s habit it has become not to be content. Nothing but nothing satisfies their hunger for being NOT content. They look at their situation and they hunger for more. And their hunger cannot not be satisfied, no matter what the situation is.

Allow me to back up just a little. First of all we as the human race have to ask ourselves the question, do we have an intrinsic right to be content?

Should we have an expectation to be happy every moment of our life with ourselves; the situations we are in and the situations others are in?

The answer has to be a bold "NO" because if we allow ourselves to be content, then we will experience the status quo. We will experience that what is given to us. . .which may not be right.

We as humanity would not advance in peace and justice, in our understanding of the will of God for us, etc.

I recently counseled with a couple who has been going through great marital troubles in their life. They had experienced the horrors of being far apart from each other, physically emotionally and spiritually. But during the time of our counseling one of them asked a very important question:" Manfred, do you believe we will find back what we once had and we will finally be content?" Will we again experience the love we felt for each other, the infatuation that was over us, the physical attraction we once felt for each other. . .etc?

And my answer would be: "I don’t know." Now, I did not say that because I had seen how many marriage were healed in the past and how couples found each other again. But, while I was sitting there, I was questioning if it is our intrinsic right to feel about each other. Is a relationship in a marriage based upon those feeling for each other. Do we have to feel infatuated, physically attracted like the first date, enticed by the words, etc? Or is there more to a relationship.

Well, those who have been married for a long time, know the answer. Marriage is based upon much more. It is based upon trust, mercy, forgiveness, compassion, respect, and the list goes on.

And in a way contentment arrives and lives within if we seek/visualize us as human being growing and knowing we "will be"

When we plant a lilac bush from a seed and we would ask the lilac bush about its "content stage" it would be very disappointed about its growing phase: . . . The seed is in dark earth, the chances that it will survive a harsh winter is there, it only booms in the spring for a brief period, etc.

But the lilac bush, the way I envision it, is a beautiful bush. And when I think of a lilac bush I don’t see the colorless bark in the winter, the demands of pruning, the ongoing growth. . .I see a blooming beauty with colors that stimulate my mind and . . .then there is the smell that is hosted in its blooms and my walkways are covered with aroma that only the lilac bush can give.

Living life is similar. Paul who is in the dungeon, who’s future seemed dim saw himself content. Paul knew the outcome is a wonderful blooming flower filled with aroma that only He can give and has given.

You see not to be content in this very moment of despair would mean that my lilac bush would refuse to bring the nutrients of the very early spring to its buds. It would refuse to accept that there will be a blooming season.

To be content means to live life in purpose and for a purpose. Imagine you are the lilac tree in the winter and you would be unhappy and you would plead and plead with God to remove you and make you an evergreen. First of all I would miss you, because I expect this very lilac bush to give me the signs of summer and to inspire me with the colors of new beginnings. But even if God would do so and would feel pity on poor the lilac bush. . .you would now stand on the corner of my house as this beautiful evergreen, whose top is reaching for growth toward the sky. . .but you will have no blooms and you will always be just that. . .a windbreak for my house (great purpose). And over time you will not be content, because you remember the times of blooming or you see the colors in blooming in other plants around you. . .so you demand to be the Mum of the fall, because that is all they do. . they bloom and bloom and bloom. You enjoy the admiration of those who walk by you as you are the only one in the cold fall weather that is still shouting with colors and energy of growth. But then you also will leave your blooms behind, you will lose your energy to revitalize yourself with new flowers and you will envy to be the everlasting vine on my house that grabs the bricks, protects from winds and rushes with life across the mortar and bricks. . .well you get the idea.

No, no matter where we will be in our life we will not be content, because we are looking at others and recognize we could be that, not knowing that they also look at other’ s and demand to be like that.

Remember how I said in the beginning however that we should not be content? Let me explain: When we look at others and we recognize that some are helpless, that some suffer, that some are oppressed, that they are we have the obligation to walk to them and share with them that which we have. And it does not need to be much. But we must give. . . and out of that comes contentment for us. . .

Contentment is not reached by demanding , but by giving

So, the question is this: First of all, are you content in your life? Or are you demanding from life to offer you what you do not posses?

Secondly, is your daily routine to embrace your perceived misery?

If you are that person I want you to know that God planted you here in on earth for a reason. God is not transplanting you, because God asks you to produce fruits. The thoughts that you think will give life to you and to others. Your thoughts will become a reality for you and others. Be careful what you think. . . .But what is as important is that you should assess in your life how much you have given to others. . . .because when we give we suddenly become content in who we are.

Mat 12:33 "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.