Learn How To Be Content
Philippians 4:6–9, 12–13
How much more money would it take for you to be content?
Everybody has a number. Maybe it is enough to pay off the cards. Maybe it is the mortgage being gone. Maybe it is a million dollars.
When more than 4,000 millionaires were asked how much money they would need to be perfectly happy, the answer was consistently two to three times more than they already had.
Harvard Business Review — Happiness of MillionairesContentment is a moving target. If more was going to make us content, it would have worked by now.
Our culture keeps telling us we need more.
Every ad, every comparison and every new purchase can reinforce the same message: what you have is not enough.
You are what you HAVE.
If I can just get a little more, then I will finally have enough.
You are what others SAY.
If I have the right things, maybe people will think the right things about me.
You are what you DO.
We can begin using what we buy and accomplish to prove our value.
“We buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t like.”
Roughly $6 billion in consumer debt in Hamilton County — an estimated $25 million every month going toward interest.
Experian averages × U.S. CensusWe don’t have money problems. We have spiritual issues related to money.
“Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.”Ecclesiastes 5:10
More money is not the answer to an appetite that never decides it has enough.
Where are you financially?
1. Struggling
Going under, behind on payments and unable to make ends meet.
2. Surviving
Living paycheck to paycheck and barely getting by.
3. Stable
Living within your means, out of debt and beginning to save.
4. Secure
Building liquid and long-term savings and prepared to weather financial storms.
5. Surplus
Having more than you need and being positioned to make a greater difference.
No matter which category you are in, contentment can still be elusive.
God owns it all.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”Isaiah 55:8–9
“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it.”Psalm 24:1
Everything comes from God and everything belongs to Him. Our life, abilities, opportunities and resources all ultimately come from Him.
What I do with money reveals WHO I think the owner is.
When I recognize God as the owner, I begin to see myself differently. I am not the owner. I am a manager of what He has entrusted to me.
Every spending decision is a spiritual decision.
It’s not MY money. It’s all God’s money that He has entrusted me to manage on His behalf.
Learn how to be content.
“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”Philippians 4:11
Contentment: God has already given me everything I need for my present happiness.
Contentment does not come naturally. Paul says he learned to be content. That means contentment is something we practice and develop.
“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.”Philippians 4:11–12
The problem is not that nice things exist. The problem is that our appetite for more does not have an automatic off switch.
If you can’t learn to be happy with what you have, more is not going to satisfy you.
Another pair of shoes. Another phone. Another trip. Another house. There will always be something else to want.
Contentment begins when what I must have stops determining who I am.
Understand the certainty of economic uncertainty.
“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.”Philippians 4:11–12
Life has cycles. There will be seasons of plenty and seasons of want. Money comes and money goes.
37% of adults could not cover an unexpected $400 expense with cash.
Federal ReserveWisdom means refusing to obligate every dollar coming in during a season of plenty.
“The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever he gets.”Proverbs 21:20
Margin is not only a financial strategy. It is a peace strategy.
There is peace that comes from not having to spend everything you have.
You don’t have to do this alone.
Heartland wants to come alongside you as you learn to manage money God’s way.
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“We want to be a steward of everything God has given us… because it’s all His.”
Does my whole life belong to Him?
Jesus, my life is Yours. Teach me to trust You with every part of it — including my money. Help me recognize that everything I have belongs to You, learn to be content with what You have given me and faithfully manage what You have placed in my hands.