Divine Contentment (Part 1)

One of the most helpful books I read this year was one I read back in August when Vince and I hit the trail into Glacier National Park for a week, called The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, by Jeremiah Burroughs.

I had no idea how helpful it would be when I first decided to read it, and I had no idea that it would be as helpful as it has been since. In it, Burroughs tries to show the way to true, divine contentment as a Christian, as opposed to contentment of the kind the world desires and in the ways the world seeks it.

He bases his treatise on Philippians 4:11-13:
“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

His desire, in the book, is to show “That to be well skilled in the mystery of Christian contentment is the duty, glory and excellence of a Christian. …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” (19), and to unpack for the reader how this contentment can be obtained.

His fifteen theses expounding Christian contentment are the heart of the book. I’ll share them here in brief in the next few posts:

I. “It may be said of one who is contented in a Christian way that he is the most contented man in the world, and yet the most unsatisfied man in the world. These two together must needs be mysterious” (42).

“A gracious (“gracious” here means “grace-filled” or “grace-wrought”) heart says, ‘Lord, do with me what you will for my passage through this world; I will be content with that, but I cannot be content with all the world for my portion. …Whatever God may give to a gracious heart—a heart that is godly—unless he gives himself it will not do. A godly heart will not only have the mercy, but the God of that mercy as well” (43-4).

In other words, do you want justification? Do you want sanctification? Do you want redemption? Do you want ransom? Or do you want the God that enters into a relationship with us through these things? A Christian cannot be satisfied with anything less than God himself, however many other blessings come his way. And if he has God, he is satisfied whatever else comes his way.

II. “A Christian comes to contentment not so much by way of addition, as by way of subtraction” (45).

“That is his way of contentment, and it is a way that the world has no skill in. I open it thus: not so much by abiding to what he would have, or to what he has—not by adding more to his condition, but rather by subtracting from his desires, so as to make his desires and his circumstances even and equal. …If he can bring his heart to be as little as his circumstances, to make them even, this is the way to contentment. The world is infinitely deceived in thinking that contentment lies in having more than we already have” (45-6).

This was probably the most powerfully shaping thing I learned in this book. Distinctly Christian contentment normally comes to us through subtracting from our desires, not adding to our circumstances or possessions. I have been praying much more lately, “Lord, give me small and humble desires with regards to the things of this world.”

III. “A Christian comes to contentment, not so much by getting rid of the burden that is on him, as by adding another burden to himself” (47).

“The way of contentment is to add another burden. That is, to labour to load and burden your heart with your sin; the heavier the burden of your sin is to your heart, the lighter will the burden of your affliction be to your heart, and so you shall come to be content. …Have you ever tried this way, husband and wife? Have you ever got alone and said, ‘Come, Oh let us go and humble our souls before God together, let us go into our chamber and humble our souls before God for our sin, by which we have abused those mercies that God has taken away from us, and we have provoked God against us. Oh let us charge ourselves with our sin, and be humbled before the Lord together.’? Have you tried such a way as this? Oh you would find that the cloud would be taken away, and the sun would shine in upon you, and you would have a great deal more contentment than ever you had” (47-8).

In other words, when we have a proper view of our own sin, we very quickly realize that what we already have is entirely undeserved and is therefore an unspeakable kindness from the hand of an extraordinarily kind God.