November 5

Godliness with contentment is great gain. — 1 Tim 6:6

Contentment does not mean satisfaction – with our great natures we never can be satisfied. Being contented does not mean that a person enjoys discomforts, hardships, narrow circumstances, sufferings. That would be unnatural. To be contented is to accept one’s condition and circumstances, whatever they may be for the time, without complaining or fretting, making the best of them.

In another place Paul speaks about his own experience in attaining this grace. He says, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content.” He had learned to be independent of conditions. He had in his own heart the resources for quiet and peace, so that in the barest circumstances he did not fret. It is interesting to notice that Paul says he had learned to be content. This suggests that it did not come to him naturally, but with something he had to learn. He intimates to Timothy that he who is contented is rich, though he have only godliness. Discontent is poverty, though a man have millions.