Philippians 4:12 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.
I read about the refugees from the Ukraine ending up in Poland. Did you hear that they haven’t set up any refugee camps to house over seven hundred thousand people. Instead, the Polish people have opened up their homes and received them with open arms. Wow!
Both Poland and the Ukraine have one thing in common: they both lived under the heavy hand of the Soviet Union. Both know what Russian power can do to crush those it opposes. And both peoples don’t want to go back to that oppression.
During the reign of the USSR, people had to learn to go without. The great ideals of Socialism just didn’t translate into better lives for anyone except the elite. The common person just survived, while those at the top lived as though there was no tomorrow. Sound familiar?
The author of this letter is in prison as he writes. Prison! He has written that he counts it a blessing that he ended up in prison, that it brought the Gospel to a place that would not have been reached if he weren’t in prison. Now, that is dedication!
Paul didn’t have an easy life when he became a follower of Jesus. There was opposition at every turn. Persecution seemed to arise when he showed up. No one would want to go through what Paul went through.
But that wasn’t Paul’s real story. You see, he had experienced the transforming power of God’s grace, and that changed everything. He was so thankful for what Christ had done for him, he lived his life for Christ with abandon. He let nothing stand in the way of sharing this grace with others.
So as Paul wraps up this letter to the church in the city of Philippi, Paul shares his story as a way to encourage those who are worried about his imprisonment. Prison during any period of history is not pleasant. Although Paul couldn’t earn a college degree or get HBO for free, the grace of God still abounded in his life.
Paul had been at the top, and he had been at the bottom. And through that experience, he had learned a very valuable lesson, one we desperately need to learn. We need to learn to be content with what we have.
Of course our economy would collapse when people stopped purchasing and began repairing. It is the purchasing that drives the economic engines. So contentment would drop purchases dramatically.
Paul had learned contentment. This is how he can write in the next verse that he could do all things through God who gives him strength. In Paul’s weakness, that is when God’s strength showed up. It is in contentment when God shows up.
When we are always unsettled, wanting more or different, that is when our hearts and spirits wander and become deceived by the cunning power of this world. This world will never satisfy, because the long we have is a longing for the Almighty Himself. We need Him more than we need silver or gold, more than beans and rice, more than tortillas and guacamole. We need Him more than we need breathe itself.
But we have learned to be content with our striving for other things, rather than our striving for Him. We have settled for sugar substitutes rather than feasting on the honey from the honey comb. We need Him more than anything else.
The Arnold Journey 