The definitive book on Christian contentment is “Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment” by Jeremiah Burroughs. It took me awhile to wade through this book because wisdom drips from every page. It is no less relevant today than when it was written in the 1600s.
I read this book slowly, pen in hand, jotting copious notes taken from virtually every page. It is the kind of book you will want to read again and again over the course of your Christian life, as the treasures found therein will take a lifetime to learn.
Let me share just a few precious gems from this “rare jewel” of a book.
Burroughs wrote:
(page 3) “We should prize duty more highly than to be distracted by every trivial occasion. Indeed, a Christian values every service of God so much that though some may be in the eyes of the world and of natural reason a slight and empty business, beggarly elements, or foolishness, yet since God calls for it, the authority of the command so overawes his heart that he is willing to spend himself and to be spent in discharging it.”
(page 10) “We are usually apt to think that any condition is better than the condition in which God has placed us…we must not be our own carvers. Whatever particular afflictions God may place us in, we must be content in them.”
(page 14) “A Christian comes to contentment, not so much by way of addition, as by way of subtraction. That is his way of contentment, and it is a way that the world has no skill in….it is not so much by adding 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.”
(p. 20) “The difference between what a godly man has and a wicked man , is this: A godly man is like a child at an inn, an inn-keeper has his child in the house, and provides his diet, and lodging, and what is needful for him. Now a stranger comes, and he has dinner and supper provided, and lodging, but the stranger must pay for everything. It may be that the child’s fare is meaner than the fare of the stranger….but he must pay for it, there must come a reckoning for it.
Just so it is: many of God’s people have only mean fare, but God as a Father provides it, and it is free of cost, they need not pay for what they have, it is paid for before; but the wicked in all their pomp, and pride, and finery: they have what they ask for, but there must come a reckoning for everything, they must pay for all at the conclusion, and is it not better to have a little free of cost, than to have to pay for everything? Grace shows a man that what he has, he has free of cost, from God as from a Father, and therefore it must needs be very sweet.”
Do you struggle with contentment? You can listen to my podcast Secrets of Contentment anytime on my Counter-cultural Mom blog. Or log in to Blog Talk Radio today, as I share this message live at the Ultimate Women’s Expo! I’ll be speaking at 1:00 EST, followed by question and answer. You can log in on your computer to listen, or phone in by dialing (646) 727-1978.
I have written several posts about Contentment on Counter-cultural Mom. Look in the sidebar, under the orange widget box for the Secrets to Contentment podcast. There is a link list for all my previous posts relating to contentment, such as Keys to Contentment, Fighting Discouragement, and Why Me, Lord?
