How God Raises Content Children

I often pass a lady who walks at her dog’s very slow pace on my morning walk. And often pass means that I will walk past them two or three times as I loop around my path and they have only gone a few yards since the last time I passed them.

I marvel at their quiet, taking in the moment as the world races around and past them. They are a picture of the deep contentment of the heart that Paul describes here.

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. 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. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. - Philippians 4:12-13

The beautiful gift from God for us in this verse is that Paul shares the secret to this contentment: “I can do all things THROUGH HIM who strengthens me.”

True contentment is not determined or bound by our circumstances. It is not dependent on us getting what we want. It is not even something that can be legislated. It is a product of our relationship with Jesus. The God of the universe has his arm around our shoulders. He watches over us and draws us back to him to see his love for us on the cross. And as we fall at his feet knowing how undeserved it is that he calls us his child, he picks us up and lifts our eyes to look into his Words. He tells us that he loves us with an everlasting love. This truth takes our appetite of having all our expectations met away. And it replaces it with deep and real contentment in him.

God teaches our children contentment the same way he teaches us, for he gives them a relationship with himself also. He will often take things that they want away from them so they will discover that they have everything in him. As we tell our children how much God loves them and read the Bible to them, they grow in their trust he placed in their hearts.

DailyPrayer:
Dear Jesus, thank you for being and giving everything to make me yours. Replace my need to have things go my own way with a true contentedness in you. Help me to share your secret of contentment with the children in my life. Amen.