Philippians 4:12 reveals a profound truth: there is a “secret to learning contentment.” As Paul declares in the next verse, he learned to be content from the strength Christ provides: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Just as a tree’s unseen root system gathers vital resources for the tree, the unseen part of contentment is being “rooted and built up in Christ” (Colossians 2:7).
With Being Content God’s Way, you will…
learn to “be content with what you have” (Hebrews 13:5)
enjoy personal stories and application to daily life
be equipped to put off covetousness (Colossians 3:5)
receive biblical answers to common questions
discover why “godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6-10)
Being content in all things is not an elusive concept. Instead, it is a tangible reality within our reach through a relationship with Christ.
Be sure to check out the accompanying Being Content God’s Way Workbook.
Philippians 4:12 reveals a profound truth: there is a “secret to learning contentment.” As Paul declares in the next verse, he learned to be content from the strength Christ provides: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Just as a tree’s unseen root system gathers vital resources for the tree, the unseen part of contentment is being “rooted and built up in Christ” (Colossians 2:7).
With Being Content God’s Way, you will…
learn to “be content with what you have” (Hebrews 13:5)
enjoy personal stories and application to daily life
be equipped to put off covetousness (Colossians 3:5)
receive biblical answers to common questions
discover why “godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6-10)
Being content in all things is not an elusive concept. Instead, it is a tangible reality within our reach through a relationship with Christ.
Be sure to check out the accompanying Being Content God’s Way Workbook.
My wife, Katie, and I were walking through the woods hand in hand, enjoying observing the trees around us. Many trees were enormous, old, and gnarly but healthy and thriving. Unseen by the two of us, the trees’ vast root system stretched below ground to gather needed resources. We only see the tree above ground, but the roots below provide the strength. Similarly, the essential part of Christian contentment is the part nobody sees—the strength Christ provides. We will discuss these verses in depth in chapter ten, but for now, as the apostle Paul wrote, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I can do all things through [Christ] who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11, 13). We must have roots deep into Christ to obtain the strength to be content.
The Old Testament looked forward to this:
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit (Jeremiah 17:7−8).
He “is not anxious” during trials (“in the year of drought”) but instead is content because he trusts the Lord. Contentment does not come naturally through human effort. Instead, it comes supernaturally from Christ. Contentment is not developed through mystical or transcendental behavior. Instead, it develops practically. We spend time with Christ in prayer. We spend time with the church, the manifestation of Christ in His physical absence, because to be with the church is to be with Christ. We repent of the sin that compromises our relationship with Christ. We read the Word to know Christ better and obey Him. He said, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock” (Matthew 7:24−25). Both houses in the parable received Christ’s teaching, but the one that obeyed had a strong foundation—roots going down into Him.
Covetous to Content
“Is this book about covetousness or contentment?” As you read the following chapters, you will probably ask this, so let me answer now: Yes! The book is about covetousness and contentment. Why? There is a mutually exclusive relationship between covetousness and contentment. When we are content, we do not covet; when we covet, we are not content. We cannot be content without overcoming covetousness.
We cannot understand contentment without understanding covetousness, and we cannot understand covetousness without understanding contentment. Any teaching about contentment that does not include teaching about covetousness will not teach much about contentment.
We will examine these verses in detail in the following chapters, but for now, consider how interchangeably they discuss covetousness and contentment.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17). Does not the tenth commandment mean we should be content with what we have and not covet what belongs to others?
“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). Is not Jesus telling us to be content because life is not about our possessions?
“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” (Philippians 4:11−12). Wasn’t Paul saying he learned to avoid coveting whether he had much or little?
“Godliness with contentment is great gain for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content” (1 Timothy 6:6−8). Does not this discourage us from coveting because we should be content with essentials?
Because learning about covetousness does little good without learning how to overcome it, the question is: How do we overcome it? We cannot just passively hope our struggle improves. Like all sins, covetousness only goes away with repentance.
Why Our Repentance Fails
The most significant reason we fail to repent successfully is that we “put off” without “putting on.” We try to stop the sin without starting the appropriate behavior. This can be a dramatic revelation for many because when they think of repentance, they think only of stopping the sinning. If that has been the case with you, then from now on, remember that stopping is only the first step. The second step is starting the Christ-honoring behavior.
John the Baptist is a man whose message can be summarized in the word “repent,” and he made these two steps clear: Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8 and Luke 3:8). When we repent, we must also produce corresponding fruit. The apostle Paul also knew how to preach repentance, and he said, “Repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance” (Acts 26:20). Like John, he said repentance would bear fruit, that it would be accompanied by “good works.”
Paul explained putting off and putting on, or starting and stopping, most clearly in Ephesians 4:25−32. Ephesians 4:25 says, “Having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor.” it is not enough to simply put off lying. We must also make a conscious effort to tell the truth and ensure that what we say is accurate.
Ephesians 4:28 says, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” We cannot simply stop stealing. We must replace theft with hard work and generosity.
I want to give this example more attention because it closely relates to covetousness and contentment. When people struggle with covetousness, why do they “labor”? To have more for themselves. They do the opposite of what Paul commands. Instead of laboring to “have something to share with [others] in need,” they labor to satisfy their covetousness. This is characteristic of our consumer-driven society. We constantly seek to raise our standard of living. However, if we want victory over covetousness, we should increase our capacity to give. We can tell whether we struggle with covetousness by asking, “What am I working for? Who is the recipient of all my stuff?” Like James 4:3 discourages: Do you want more money “to spend it on your own passions?”
Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” We cannot simply put off saying unwholesome things. We must intentionally speak words that edify and encourage.
Then Paul sums it up: “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice” (Ephesians 4:31). Put off all this, and then put on: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). If we repent of the sins in verse 31, we produce the fruit in verse 32.
The verses contain opposing pairs. This is important to remember because the list of sins in Ephesians 4 is not exhaustive. If there is a sin in your life, do not be discouraged if it is not listed. Instead, think of the opposite behavior. More than likely, that is what you must put on; that is the fruit you must produce.
What If We Put off Without Putting On?
If we put off without putting on, then a vacuum is created. Jesus described the danger in the parable of the unclean spirit:
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first” (Matthew 12:43−45).
Things seem good initially because the unclean spirit (representing sin) is removed from the man’s life. Unfortunately, a void is created, and the house (representing a person’s life) remains “empty.” The man ends up worse off than when the unclean spirit left. This pictures the unfortunate human tendency for us only temporarily to reform. Psychologists, prisons, and juvenile detention centers testify to this. People will be sorry and change for a while but soon find themselves doing the same thing again.
As a pastor, I have heard many people say, “I tried to stop committing this sin. Why do I keep struggling?” My reply is, “You stopped, but what did you start? You put off, but what did you put on?” To be practical:
You stopped going to bars, but what did you start doing?
You stopped yelling at your kids, but what did you start saying to them?
You stopped watching things you should not, but did you start reading your Bible more?
You stopped coveting, but did you start giving?
When sin is present, we must ensure our prayers are twofold. Ask the Lord, “What do you want me to repent of and put off?” and “What accompanying fruit do you want me to produce and put on?”
Putting off Covetousness and Putting on Contentment
The practice of putting off and putting on should be applied to multiple areas of the Christian life, including covetousness and contentment: “Let your conduct be without covetousness (put off covetousness!); be content with such things as you have (put on contentment!)” (Hebrews 13:5 NKJV). If we want to be content, it is not enough to say, “I will be content from now on!” We must also put off covetousness.
A Question and Some Credibility
Is there any reason you should trust what I say about contentment and covetousness? Yes, and I will give you three reasons!
First and foremost, I am not asking you to trust me but God. This book is not simply a collection of my thoughts and opinions but God’s words revealed in Scripture, which is why you will see many verses. God knows how we can be content and overcome covetousness. I want you to understand what He says about these topics. So, in the following chapters, I unpack the Bible’s critical passages about contentment and covetousness and present them clearly and engagingly.
Second, I have preached extensively on contentment and covetousness to the church I serve. The sermons involved hundreds of hours of Bible study, which I used to write this book.
Third, much of the counseling I perform is related to contentment and covetousness. When couples come for marriage counseling, they want to see their spouse change. More often, I help them be content with each other. When people have financial problems, I help them overcome covetousness to be better savers and givers. In other words, I have experience assisting people to become content.
I poured my heart into this book because I am passionate about this area of Scripture and life. I am convinced that if you apply biblical principles in the following chapters, they can change your life.
The Accompanying Workbook
I have written an accompanying workbook to help you apply what you are reading. Think of the workbook as a three-month, thirteen-week journey to help cement the teachings in your heart.
James 1:22 says, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” This verse reveals a common mistake with God’s Word: We believe we have done enough by learning without obeying. As believers, our responsibility goes much further than simply obtaining information. We must also apply it, or none of the knowledge gained will benefit us. Using the Being Content God’s Way Workbook will help reinforce the teachings from the book so you can be not just a hearer (or reader) but a doer (or obey-er).
So, let us get started!
Contentment may often feel out of reach, but “Being Content God’s Way” by Scott LaPierre provides a thorough and insightful biblical framework for finding lasting peace and joy in being content in God. In this insightful book, LaPierre delves deeply into the concept of covetousness, emphasizing how a thorough understanding of this subject is vital for grasping what it means to be truly content.
LaPierre helps his readers understand that contentment is not merely an optional aspect of a believer's life; it is an essential element for spiritual growth and maturity. This call to action is made accessible through the reminder that through Christ, each believer is provided with the strength needed to combat covetous thoughts and behaviors, guiding us towards a life of contentment that is rooted in biblical truth and assurance. This book also delves into the idea that contentment is fundamentally a choice, rather than something determined by our circumstances or material possessions. This book provides various insights and scriptural examples that illustrate how our mindset and attitudes can shape our feelings of fulfillment.
Pastor LaPierre supports his teachings by consistently referencing scripture, ensuring that each chapter is anchored in a solid biblical foundation. By doing so, the reader enjoys a deeper understanding and connection to God’s own words about contentment.
With a clear and practical approach, this book equips readers with straightforward yet profound principles that can be easily applied in a believer's daily life. The authors' engaging personal stories combined with scriptural examples not only bring this message to life but also serve to motivate readers to take actionable steps toward fostering contentment in their own faith journey.
“Being Content God’s Way” is an excellent read for anyone seeking an accessible and solid framework for understanding the nature of contentment, along with practical strategies for resisting the temptation of covetousness. I personally found this book to be immensely helpful in understanding contentment, and the author's engaging writing style made it easy to reflect on my own experiences, leaving me both encouraged and challenged in a faith journey. This book offers insight into not only putting off covetousness but also guides readers on how to cultivate new, Christ-like patterns of behavior, including gratitude and generosity. If you are longing to find lasting peace and freedom from feelings of discontent, this book will enrich your faith journey and act as an invitation to discover the unwavering strength found in Christ.