ARE YOU CONTENTED?

Grumble, grumble, grumble! That’s what a lot of us do much of the time, isn’t it?

Some of the things we grumble about are actually foolish, aren’t they? Listen to Peter griping: “Why can’t Katie put the toothpaste away when she gets done with it? I always have to do it!” Or listen to Katie complaining: “Peter always bumps into me when he walks past me! Why can’t he watch where he’s going?”

Oh, we all grumble, don’t we? I always grumbled about taking a bath, but — you know something, by the time I stopped grumbling I could have been in the tub and had my bath all finished. And that yucky medicine you have to take — well, isn’t that much better than coughing all night or lying hooked up to tubes in the hospital?

Yesterday I read in the paper about a woman who helps so many people. She’s writing a book; she tutors little children; she helps her friends with their problems — why, she’s so busy that she has no time to complain!

But she could. That woman does more things to help other people than many of us do, but — she lies in one spot all day. Yes, I mean that — all day. Day and night. Night and day. She never gets up. She can’t even move. She can’t use her arms or legs. This hard working, happy girl is in a huge “can” called an Iron lung. If she wasn’t in there, she couldn’t breathe, and would die.

An iron lung is like being all wound up in a big blanket or cocoon — you can’t do anything. I know I would certainly grumble about the awful life I had, not running around like other people! But not this girl! She uses her life to help others.

We don’t know if this woman has a new heart, but she does seem to listen to the apostle Paul. He tells us in the Bible, “Be content with such things as ye have.” That means, we should accept the things God gives us without wanting more, more, more. Instead of grumbling, we should pray to God to help us.

Did you ever hear of Helen Keller? Helen was a girl who couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, and couldn’t talk. But she found out it didn’t help to grumble about it! And she learned to “hear” and “speak” in her own way. But Helen was always blind. How she wished she could see! One day she wrote a story called, “Three Days to See.” She pretended that she was able to see for three days — not very long, is it? But to Helen it was a long time, for she had never seen anything! All she wanted — three days to see! And Helen tells us, “I who am blind can give one hint to those who see: use your eyes as if tomorrow you would be stricken blind!”

How often do we do that? Do we enjoy the eyes God has given us? Do we enjoy, do we really appreciate the ears ... the arms ... the legs ... the health God has given us as if tomorrow it could be taken away? Do we appreciate the life God has given us as if tomorrow it could be taken away? For it could be. We who have all these treasures are richer than a millionaire! In fact, we are millionaires!

Maybe you have heard the story about Harry, the boy who grumbled and grumbled about how poor he was. “I can’t have a big bike like Josh has, and I don’t have a train set like Mike has, and I don’t have....”

His uncle listened to Harry. Then he said, “Say, Harry, I’ll make you rich. I’ll pay you a thousand dollars for your arms.”

“What about two thousand dollars for your ears?” the uncle asked.

“No way!” cried Harry. “Not my arms! I need them for everything!”

“Okay, what about two thousand dollars for your ears?” the uncle asked.

“Never!” cried Harry. “Boy, I can’t get along without hearing!”

And so his uncle went on and on. He tried to buy Harry’s eyes, his legs, and mouth, and so on. But Harry would not part with any of them! Then — he began to realize something. He really wasn’t poor after all. He was rich — rich and blessed, to have all those gifts!

Maybe you know the name of a man in the Bible who was content. His name was — Job. His children, his animals, and his wealth were taken away from him, but still he did not curse God. Job could only say, “I didn’t have anything when I was born, and I will have nothing when I die. The Lord gave me whatever I have, so He has the right to take it all away again. ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord!’”

Paul tells us in another place in the Bible, “I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.” That means, no matter what happens, in sickness or in health, in pain or in painlessness — we should be content.

But that is hard, isn’t it? Only God can give us that contentment. Sometimes it helps to make a visit to the hospitals and see dying children, a crippled little girl, or a legless little boy. Maybe if we saw a child who had to spend his whole life in a hospital bed, hooked up to tubes and machines, we would think, “God has blessed me with so much!”

But we won’t go to heaven just because we don’t grumble. We won’t go to heaven just because we are content. We need something else as well. We need a new heart. The Bible tells us, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” If we have a new heart and are content as well —then we have a great blessing!

Have we been blessed with contentment? And, even more important, have we been blessed with a new heart? Only God can give us these two gifts. Pray that we may be like Paul. Pray that we may be content with whatever God gives us — and especially that He may give us the great gift of a new heart.

— SW

For Whom Did Christ Die?

The Father imposed His wrath due unto, and the Son underwent punishment for, either:

1. All the sins of all men.

2. All the sins of some men, or

3. Some of the sins of all men.

In which case it may be said:

a. That if the last be true, all men have some sins to answer for, and so none are saved.

b. That if the second be true, then Christ, in their stead suffered for all the sins of all the elect in the whole world, and this is the truth.

c. But if the first be the case, why are not all men free from the punishment due unto their sins?

You answer, “Because of unbelief.” I ask, “Is this unbelief a sin, or is it not?” If it be, then Christ suffered the punishment due unto it, or He did not. If He did, why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which He died? If He did not, He did not die for all their sins!

— Dr. John Owen,

Chaplain to Oliver Cromwell and Vice Chancellor of Oxford University.

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