Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

Philippians 4:11

Two women looked through prison bars.
One saw mud, the other saw stars.

Learned: to be educated by experience.

“I have learned to be content,” is something that I’m still learning. The Lord has to help me with this often. These days with Social Media it’s so easy to fall into the comparison trap. That will easily take away contentment. It’s easier to see everything wrong than it is to see everything right. We can spot the bad faster than we spot the good it seems. It takes a whole new mindset to have true contentment.

Let’s visit Philippians 4 again but go up a few verses. It reads:

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7

That’s contentment.

I think Paul was giving us a hint here on how to have true contentment. This is instructions on how we can learn contentment. When we pray and be thankful, the Peace of God comes upon our heart and mind. That would be contentment — Peace of God. The key to all of this I believe is Thankfulness.

The devil will try to rob us of our thankfulness first before anything else. If he can win that then he has destroyed our contentment. If I ever find myself in a place of not being content, it’s because I have gotten my focus off of what I have and have placed it on the things that I do not have. If I’m worrying about all the things that I do not have, then I am not being thankful for the things that I do have. Therefore, I have lost my peace — my contentment. I have found even just recently that if I can focus more on the good and the things that I have been blessed with then I am more content because I am thankful.

To be content, you must have God’s Peace. To have God’s Peace, you must be Thankful.

Thankfulness = Contentment.

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

I Thessalonians 5:18

These days it seems easier to let unthankfulness creep in. With Social Media at our finger tips all the time, it is so easy to fall into the trap of comparison. It leads you to unthankfulness. Which in turn takes your contentment. When we compare ourselves, we only see everything that is wrong with us and with our possessions. We don’t have stylish clothes; we can’t get our hair to do like someone else’s. Our house ain’t as new as others. We can’t afford to have the in style home decor. All this is examples of the evil trap called comparison. We don’t even realize when it takes over until we realize how unhappy and ungrateful we are with ourselves and our things. That’s unthankfulness. We need to Stop comparing ourselves to other people. God did Not create us to be someone that we are not. He created each of us uniquely to be our own selves.

Do you have a hard time fighting comparison? Wanna know the cure I found?

Start thanking God for Everything that you Do have! I promise, comparison will fade away and contentment settles in you before you even realize it.

In EVERYTHING give Thanks! That’s how you Learn to be Content!