Principles for Contentment: Applications from 1 Corinthians
“Paul was calling them to a life of freedom through contentment in their oftentimes uncontrollable circumstances”
In 1 Corinthians 7, we’ve talked a lot about relationships, specifically in the context of marriage. Paul begins the chapter by walking through some specific scenarios in which an individual should get married as well as the power that marriage can have in ministry and in furthering Christ’s kingdom. This topic seems to be of utmost importance in a young believer’s life. The pressure to find a spouse can feel overwhelming and can quickly turn our focus away from Jesus.
However, Paul makes a profound statement in verses 6-7, “But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment. For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.” Paul is content in his singleness. He actually promotes and prefers it! He feels secure in God’s calling over his life and is able to walk confidently with God’s perspective.
As we approach verses 17-24, Paul uses the example of circumcision to demonstrate what it looks like to be content in your physical circumstances. At the time of this letter, both Jew and Gentile believers were learning what it looked like to worship the same God and follow after the same mission. Although they grew up with vastly different cultural standards and traditions, Paul was calling them to a life of freedom through contentment in their oftentimes uncontrollable circumstances.
Throughout this sermon, Brandon posed a series of tough questions:
“Are you content in your current calling?”
“What is better for you: what God has given you or what someone else has?”
“Are you happy knowing that Christ is walking with you?”
“Contentment doesn’t come overnight, especially with unexpected, uncertain, or prolonged circumstances”
A year ago, this idea of contentment would have been unfathomable for me. My husband and I were faced with the devastating loss of our first baby due to miscarriage. After the first several months of grief and learning to cope with this new reality, the Lord began working on my heart in a way in which I wasn’t prepared. Although the pain was still there, I knew that I needed to work through my restlessness with the Lord. In my heart of hearts, I believed the lie that I would never be truly content if I couldn’t have a healthy baby.
This situation, as bleak as it sounds, is actually similar to what many people are going through every day. Discontentment is discontentment, no matter the severity of the circumstance. Whether you are discontent in your singleness, your marriage, your family, your job, your financial situation, the list goes on and on, God is calling you to freedom through His Word.
During this season of refinement, God taught me three life-changing principles that can be applied to any situation that brings discontentment. The first is that it is a process. Because contentment comes from the Lord, we know that it’s not something that we can conjure up in ourselves. We’re doing ourselves a disservice if we are striving in our flesh to have something that we don’t possess. Contentment doesn’t come overnight, especially with unexpected, uncertain, or prolonged circumstances. We have to earnestly seek the Lord with expectation, knowing that it’s His desire to see us living in contentment. Psalm 27:14 was a verse I held tightly, “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” As Brandon said during this sermon, “God gives us the grace for every circumstance of your life.” Trust God for that, and trust his promise that he will strengthen you. Don’t give up.
“The answer to our discontentment is never a change in circumstance, but a change in heart”
The second principle is that contentment is a choice. God provides everything we need in his Word and through His Spirit. It is our choice whether or not we are going to own those promises for ourselves. After several months of continued wrestling with the Lord, I was tired and worn out. My heart towards the Lord was best described as a pouty toddler that hasn’t had their way. One morning, through a series of different verses, God stopped me in my tracks with Jeremiah 17:5-8, “Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” These verses present a clear picture, as well as a clear choice. I could choose to be the heath (a bush or shrub) that is dried up, void of life, unable to see any good, or I could choose to be the tree that is fruitful and thriving, unable to see the heat coming. The key to this passage is that both plants were in the same circumstances — in the middle of the desert. The tree spread out her roots by the water, which we know pictures God’s Word. She was nourished by the water which allowed her to remove her focus from the heat. She was even able to have fruit in a season of drought! She was content! It was this morning that I made the choice to be the tree.
Now understanding that this process takes time, and having made the choice to “be the tree,” I was lacking one integral part of true contentment: perspective. For the last six months at this point, I had been so grossly distracted by my physical circumstances, and I had completely lost focus on the mission. I needed God to transform my heart and mind, so that I could see this season through His eyes. Continuing with the picture of the fruitful tree in the desert (Jeremiah 17:7-8), the word ‘abide’ continued to be at the forefront of my mind. After all, this tree was abiding by the waters. The Lord brought John 15:4-5 to mind, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” This was the key to contentment — abiding in the Lord. The purpose of our lives isn’t our happiness or success, it is solely to bring our Savior the glory He deserves. Jesus Christ did not die on the cross for our sins so that I could live a self-centered life. Without this perspective, you can easily begin to drown in your circumstances, completely forgetting why you are here in the first place. Paul touched on this same principle in 1 Corinthians 7:24, “Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.” The answer to our discontentment is never a change in circumstance, but a change in heart.
“I didn’t have what I thought I needed, but I did have a new heart and a renewed perspective”
Because of God’s abundant patience and grace for me through this season, at the beginning of this year, I was able to reach a place of true contentment and joy in the Lord. I didn’t have what I thought I needed, but I did have a new heart and a renewed perspective. I had a new excitement to serve the Lord in the season I was in and felt so secure and confident right where he had me. I felt no rush to start a family and was ready to wait on God’s perfect timing. I finally had Paul’s contentment!
Ironically enough, shortly after returning from a mission trip overseas, I found out I was pregnant. In complete shock and absolute gratefulness to the Lord, I felt so indebted to Him — not for this miracle, but for the life-changing principles he had taught me through such a hard season of discontentment.
Inevitably, this won’t be my last season of discontentment. There will be more to come, but I am forever thankful to be equipped with these principles to work through each tough season as it comes. This sermon on 1 Corinthians 7:17-24 has allowed for so much reflection and gratitude to the Lord for what he did in my heart. I am so grateful for a personal testimony of how God alone can change a restless and discontent heart into a joy filled and content one. Because of this reality in my own life, I know first hand that God can do the same for you. Regardless of your physical circumstances, trust God to give you freedom through contentment in Christ.
Wait on him with expectancy.
Chose to be “the fruitful tree”, rather than “the barren heath.”
Trust God to change your perspective to match His.
I hope and pray the freedom that comes through contentment will be a reality in your life.
Abby Marsh is a member of Midtown Baptist Temple and is a part of C&YA. She serves in Kidtown and leads a women’s Bible study in northeast KC.
