Day 20 – When Your Heart Matches the Circumstances Topic:Contentment Philippians 4:11- 13 A carnal heart knows no way to be contented but this:I have such and such possessions, and if I had this added to them, and the other comfort added that I have not now, then I should be contented. But contentment does not come in that way, it does not come, I say, by adding to what you want, but by subtracting from your desires. It is all one to a Christian, whether I get up to what I would have, or get my desires down to what I have, either to attain what I do desire, or to bring down my desires to what I have already attained. Now I say that a heart that has no grace, and is not instructed in this mystery of contentment, knows of no way to get contentment but to have his possessions raised up to his desires; but the Christian has another way to contentment, that is, he can bring his desires down to his possessions, and so he attains his contentment. Thus the Lord fashions the hearts of the children of men. If the heart of a man is fashioned to his circumstances, he may have as much contentment as if his circumstances were fashioned to his heart. The world is infinitely deceived in thinking that contentment lies in having more than we already have. Here lies the bottom and root of all contentment, when there is an evenness and proportion between our hearts and our circumstances. That is why many godly men who are in low position live more sweet and comfortable lives than those who are richer. Contentment is not always clothed with silk and purple and velvets, but it is sometimes in a home- spun suit, in mean circumstances, as well as in higher. Many men who once have had great estates and God has brought them into a lower position have had more contentment in those circumstances than they had before. Now how can that possibly be? Quite easily, if you only understood that the root of contentment consists in the suitableness and proportion of a mans spirit to his possessions, an evenness where one end is not longer and bigger than the other. The heart is contented and there is comfort in those circumstances. But now let God give a man riches, no matter how great, yet if the Lord gives him up to the pride of his heart, he will never be contented:on the other hand, let God bring anyone into mean circumstances, and then let God but fashion and suit his heart to those circumstances and he will be content. Adapted from The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs
Posted on: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 12:08:11 +0000
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