Contempt for Contentment

Far away in the depths of my spirit tonight

Rolls a melody sweeter than psalm;

In celestial strains it unceasingly falls

O’er my soul like an infinite calm.

Peace, peace, wonderful peace,

Coming down from the Father above!

Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray

In fathomless billows of love!

Christian contentment

(Jeremiah Burroughs, 1600-1646)

"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances!" Philippians 4:11

Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.

"Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that!" 1 Timothy 6:6-8

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said: Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you!" Hebrews 13:5

Addition Dr. Morris:

This writer owned and maintained a home right in the middle of Manhattan, New York City, for many years. I used it when I was there, a pied-a-terre away from my usual homestead. It was an excellent launching pad for my world travels. Of course, sightless, I missed the body language so important for evaluating people, but I could hear the rushing tenseness, even anger, in the hordes of people, streets, buses, subways in their workday of survival. I would walk through the garment district and hear men with loaded carts in pursuit of another day's pay, and I'm sure the same mental activity-anguish went on in the great banks, even Wall Street. Every day of my life when I shower-shave in the comfort of my home, I think of my ancestors, who up until my parents generation, never enjoyed any of the comforts of life... never had a good bath. Most only had two pairs of shoes, Sunday shoes and work shoes... most men owned only one suit. Some of my female ancestors probably never had a store bought-ready made dress. Beginning in the twentieth century, industry, movement from the farm into the city, the individual lost much of the joys of living. Governments find it is much easier to control people in large urban areas. Madison Avenue finds it is easy to keep people in stress about the things they do not have. Radio-television-internet advertising keeps people constantly wanting something additional or different. It has become a science aimed at certain age groups, most disgusting, marketing towards children, so, each generation becomes more dissatisfied with their lives than the last. We all want to live like the "rich and famous." Home has become just a filling station-changing room. Everyone is on the go. 

One pastor visited one of his members' homes. A young boy answered the door, upon inquiry, the boy told the pastor that his father was on the golf course, his mother, either at the gym or shopping. His sister either had a dancing class or fencing class or soccer practice. The preacher said, "What are you doing?" "I have our old, large tomcat in our freezer turning him into a polar bear," replied the boy. 

Bring back the time when we had time to look at the flowers which we had time to plant. Bring back the time when the family could enjoy a meal at a table. Bring back the time when students could enjoy a book just for the pleasure of reading. Bring back the time when families and neighbors visited. In my lifetime, I saw front porches emptied where, before air conditioning, they used to be crowded with people laughing and talking. There was a time when the doctors office didn't limit you to a seven minute visit or a lawyer could practice curbstone law (time to talk with you about a problem on the street).

I have been to Communist China three times since it reopened... amazed that those people are more like robots than robots. Your life is controlled by the government from cradle to grave. I was in the so-called "children's palaces" where all children are raised by government workers... the parents, unless hospitalized, are at work at government jobs. All young men are pressed into military service... you see them constantly exercising. All young girls are working in factories turning out stuff for Wal-Mart. I asked one supervising guide, "What would happen if one of these girls actually had an artistic thought and made something different from the others." She said, "We would destroy it." Everything is done according to standard operating procedures (SOP). Every time I go to a Wal-Mart or another of the mega-stores, I think I'm in Communist China, where piles of clothing are just there for purchase, never any displays. There was a time in America when you could window shop... do you remember mannequins? Even in Chinese restaurants, everything tastes the same, same portions, same decor. The first time I was in China, everyone wore the same uniform, men and women, same haircuts, same bicycles. It was almost that way in Russia, when I crossed the entire continent on the Trans-Siberian Railroad.

America, having been brain-washed, mentally tarnished and tainted by government media, is in the process of losing so quickly that which our ancestors worked so long and hard to establish. From the White House, to the State House, to the court house-school house-church house, we have purchased hook, line and sinker, mal-contentment with the values of our wonderful past.

I have often said, why should we be surprised when sinners act like sinners. Faith is 90% raw courage. Those of us who bear the name of Christ should be the most content, joyful people in the world and should have the courage to esteem it.