Strength for Today

When I was a boy, my father or mother would sometimes say to me, "Now son, what have you learned from this experience?" That usually came after I had done something wrong or had made a mistake. They wanted me to learn from my experience. Everyone should learn from their mistakes or misfortunes. Life is a great teacher. The apostle Paul uses this expression twice in Philippians 4. It was not that he had sinned or done anything wrong, but he had learned some things. Here they are. "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content" (Phil. 4:11). One more time: "I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need" (Phil. 4:12). Paul had learned the secret to life: contentment! We are a very uncontented people. We complain way too much. Not so with Paul. He had learned from his times of poverty and prosperity. We need to do the same. Paul concludes this little section on learning by saying: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13). That is the ultimate learning experience! But we often forget the context in which it was written ~ being content with things as they are, good or bad, hard times or better times, lean times or prosperous times. Someone has said, "Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have." George MacDonald noted, "To have what we want is riches; but to be able to do without is power." Learn the secret of that power today!