April 12

From Contention to Contentment

 
  The Hebrew word and its Aramaic and Greek equivalent, translated as "contention," appears 17 times in the Old Covenant and only one time in the New. The opposite of contention is, of course, "content." The word "content" is translated six times from the Greek in the New Covenant. True peace is solely found in the heart of a content person. People can only become content when they have reconciled the things that have distressed them.

  Thus, contentment is typically a byproduct of maturity in the faith. With the Lord Master at our side, contentment is a natural consequence of His Presence, for everything is always reconciled in Him and by His supernatural promises! Hence, the truly godly person is a content person. Said the Apostle Paul of this very unnatural state, "godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either." (1 Timothy 6:6-7)

It is important to note that before Jesus' advent, true contentment was very difficult to achieve. To be content with God required surprising faith. And any measure of faith at all was quite rare before the Presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. A careful reading of the four Gospels makes that abundantly clear. Jesus' own disciples were constantly being reminded of their faithlessness by Jesus – and they walked beside Him and slept near Him every single day! When true faith surfaced, as recounted by Jesus in the case of the Centurion in Luke 7, it is said that Jesus "marveled" at his extraordinarily rare faith.

  But while it was difficult to be content back then without the indwelling, supernatural Presence of the Holy Spirit of Grace, we Christians do not have that excuse today! Our faith is a gift of the Spirit Who lives within us, and we are each promised a certain measure of that spiritual aptitude. (Romans 12:3)

  Tonight, as we approach our eventide trek to the feet of the Lord Master, let us be eternally grateful that we have been chosen to live in the days of contentment and not during the bitter centuries before Christ where contention was far more prevalent! "But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, Who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace…" (Ephesians 2:13-15)

  Therefore, beloved, on this night we celebrate our Contentment, Whose Name is The Prince of Peace!