MA
O lUW h) Of THE
THE BEST STATE
IN WHICH TO LIVE
Left: Dr.John B. Houser,Pastor, First Baptist Church Right:Rev. Janies Beck, Christian Education, Director
by John B. Houser
We need to learn the lesson of contentment and apply it to all relationships of life. We must apply it in what we call the “ accidents” of life. These happen constantly, and we need to learn to be victorious over them. We must apply this principle of Christian living in today’s home life. Children often complain and are discontented. Teenage youth openly defy parents and civil au thorities in showing their discon tent. This has become one of the principal causes of divorce. Wives, husbands, discontented with what they have or do not have, begin to complain, to find fault with one another, and the happiness and contentment they once knew is gone. Oh, how we need to learn this lesson of contentment and apply it to all things! In all our limitations, trials, surprise, re verses, learn to live with them and make the best of them. Never allow them to make you hard and cynical. What good can come from dis content? A happy home life is ruined if there is one in the fam ily who is always discontented and complaining. A business firm will never be successful if its em ployees are discontented, and not doing their work with enthusi asm. A church will not be the place o f spiritual power and bless ing it is intended to be if discon tent has gripped its members.
“ ■ have learned , in whatsoever I state I am, therein to be con tent” (Phil. 4:11). What is the best state in which to live? Ask 50 different people from 50 different states and you would get a different answer from each one. The Apostle Paul had discovered the best state to live in, and he tells us what it is in these familiar words. This is remarkable for a num ber of reasons. First, note where Paul was: in Rome, a prisoner, chained to a guard day and night. This would be the last place we would expect to find contentment. Would we be able to say this un der such circumstances? Second, observe how Paul at tained this state of contentment. He had not always possessed it, but had “ learned” it. Where? Not out of books, or the classroom at school, but in the school of life. You and I need to learn it, and it is a lesson supremely worth our learning. Third, consider the meaning of the word content, “ to be indepen dent of external circumstances.” Paul is saying, “ I have learned in whatsoever state I am, no mat ter what the circumstances are, to be master of the situation.” To have learned this, is to have learned one of life’s greatest les sons. This kind of contentment accepts every appointment as from God, realizing that that which comes into the life is by His permission, if not by His active will.
Discontent is the normal con dition of many today. Nothing is ever quite right. People complain about the weather. It is too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry. The place where they live is too small or too big, or there is no opportunity for them. “ The grass is always greener on the other side o f the fence.” This is true of youth, of mature people, of the elderly. We are a frustrated, dis satisfied, discontented, people. There are some things we ought to be discontented with. Young people who could earn better grades in school ought not to be content with less than their best. I f we are able to do superior work where we are employed, but in stead we are content to coast along, we only hurt ourselves. To be content because we are lazy and unprogressive is not right. This does not fit the meaning of Paul’s word. We are not the mas ter o f the situation or the cir cumstances. Paul does not say or imply that he was pleased with every sort of circumstance in itself. He was not so removed from life that he was indifferent to everything or any thing. But he had gone through enough va r i ed experiences to know how to accept everything that came without complaining or despairing. Contentment does not depend on where you are, or what you have, but who you are. It is a state o f heart. It comes to those who find it within and not without.
THE KING 'S BUSINESS
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