Contentment

Sometimes false teachers itch ears,

And sometimes they just lull everyone to sleep,

Till there’s no outreach, no evangelism, and no growth.

Either way the devil wins.

I used to think contentment was just about not being covetous, or accepting the bare minimum in life. I’ve recently realised it means so much more than that. In the Old Testament contentment means pleased, determined or show willingness (Exodus 2:21). In the New Testament it can mean satisfied (Luke 3:14) but it can also mean independent of external circumstances (Philippians 4:11) or a perfect condition of life in which no aid or support is needed (1 Timothy 6:6).

What God has been teaching me, is that contentment isn’t just thinking what you have is enough, it’s also about not using your circumstances as an excuse. I’m learning to be content, I’m still working on that one, but I’ve recognised the trap of thinking “if I can just get this, or if I just get better, then I’ll be able to do what God wants.” What I’ve learnt is that all Christians are instructed to spread the gospel by word and deed and our circumstances are never an excuse to that instruction. And when we aren’t doing that task, we will feel like we’re missing something in our spiritual walk.

My husband, Chris, has a saying: “Only a fool would lean on a spade and pray for a hole.” The truth of this saying has become more obvious in recent years. The older I get, the more I see Christians leaning on spades. Christians who pray for people to be saved but never witness. Christians who pray for the church to grow but do no evangelism. Christians who lament the state of the community and then hide so they are never an influence for good.

We want God to do all the work, while we do, well, not much. I believe many Christians have fallen into the trap of believing the world, as I know I have in the past:

But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; (1 Corinthians 1:23)

To the world (the Greeks) the gospel is foolishness. And sadly Christians are often ashamed to share the gospel because they see it through the eyes of the world. But it’s not how we should view the gospel after salvation:

But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:24)

The gospel is the power and wisdom of God. We need a change of perspective. We need to stop seeing the gospel through the world’s eyes and see it through God’s eyes: his power and wisdom. We need to be reminded that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:25) It is easy to become so focused on ourselves, we forget that we witness in God’s strength not our own, that the gospel is his wisdom not ours.

Speaking the gospel is God’s chosen strategy. To the world it is foolishness, but it is God’s power and wisdom and the means he has chosen to accomplish his ends. Only a fool would lean on a spade and pray for a hole; and it would be kinda crazy to never share the gospel and yet pray for people’s salvation. God has given every Christian the ability to share the gospel. Yet so often we use our circumstances as an excuse not to:

• The ground is hard, I’ll start digging after it rains.

• It’s raining, I’ll start digging when it stops.

• It’s been raining too much, I’ll dig when the ground drys out.

• It’s too hot outside, I’ll go out and dig when it cools off.

• It’s too dark, I’ll dig tomorrow.

• It’s Sunday, I better not dig today.

The excuses never end. But we aren’t meant to wait for the perfect opportunity to maybe, once in our entire lives share the gospel. We are meant to live it. We are meant to be lights shining in the middle of a crooked and perverse world, holding forth the word of life. (Philippians 2:15-16)

Think about Paul, he never used his circumstances as an excuse. When he was in prison, when he was shipwrecked, when he was arrested, when he was bought to court, he preached the gospel everywhere, in every circumstance. He wrote his second epistle to Timothy while in prison in Rome and he relates how at his first court appearance not a single other Christian came and supported him, but God was with him and he was able to preach. (2 Timothy 4:17) His life was literally on the line: death by lion, and it still wasn’t an excuse.

What are we all so afraid of?

Once you start making excuses, it can be hard to stop, because there will never be a perfect day to share the gospel.

I know I have been guilty of this in recent years. My mental health became my excuse, and it followed me everywhere. I had literally just come off the mission field, and suddenly I stopped sharing the gospel, at the time it felt like my excuse was valid. Looking at the life of Paul, I’m not so sure.

If you aren’t living a life that points others to Christ, if you aren’t shining as a light in your community, if you aren’t having gospel conversations, if you aren’t showing Christ’s love to a dying world there will always be a piece of the puzzle missing in your life.

God wants every Christian to be a testimony of the salvation he freely offers to the world. And we testify in word and deed.

But just a hint: meeting on a Sunday is not actually shining your light. Many Christians have convinced themselves that the church service itself is the light, that by meeting together they are being a light. But that misses the whole point of the metaphor Jesus made:

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

Our good works are the light that shine before men, not our meeting together. Good works that happen for others to see. That means people getting out of the church building to shine.

Think of this promise Jesus gives:

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)

Whenever I read this verse I am reminded of the scene in Tolkien’s Return of the King, when Aragorn and his army, against all odds, take the battle to Mordor’s gates. If Christians are attacking the gates of hell then we are on the offensive, we aren’t defending a fortress. We have taken the battle to the enemy’s gates. No team wins a soccer match by only playing defence, you have to go on the offence to score a goal and that involves going into the opposition’s territory. Yes, the world is the opposition’s territory but Jesus has sent us into it and he is with us always (Matthew 28:18-20). We need to be taking the gospel to the world not hiding it inside a church building.

So no more excuses.

It’s time to start digging.

All Glory to God