I think most people would agree that there is meaningful personal value in contentment. A quick internet search will turn up personal benefits such as reduced stress, self-acceptance, better mental health, improved sleep, tranquility, and resilience.

As great as these personal advantages are, I believe Paul learned deep, always-present contentment as part of his apprenticeship with Jesus. And as such, the transformation he experienced while training and learning contentment with Jesus had a farther reaching impact.

The ultimate goal of apprenticeship to Jesus is to learn from him how to be like him as if he were living our lives. So we’re learning from Jesus his lifestyle and practices that fully immerse our life into God’s kingdom — God’s activity here in the present world. By doing so, God is transforming us into the kind of person Jesus is. 

What kind of person was Jesus? In a nutshell, he completely embodied God’s love. He had the character, power and faith that allowed him to competently be God’s love to others. This might be a forgiving word, giving sight to the blind, confronting misguided leaders with truth, wisely teaching people about life, feeding thousands, casting out demons, calming a storm, and the many other expressions of love in the Gospels. He knew exactly what to do and had the power to do it. Dallas Willard defines love as “intending the good of others.” That was Jesus, always intending and competently following through with the good for others. 

Along with embodying love, Jesus also embodied joy. Dallas Willard defines joy as “a positive outlook of hopefulness based upon a pervasive, overall sense of well-being.” He goes on to say that joy “maintains a positive posture in life that assumes that good will be supported and eventually triumph over any apparent obstacle.” Joy is deeply connected with love. Whereas love intends the good of others, joy is positive and confident that this good will prevail and triumph over everything.

And along with love and joy, Jesus embodied peace. Dallas Willard defines peace as “a kind of rest that comes from bedrock confidence in the holistic, universal provision of what is necessary and good.” As one intends the good of others and is positive that this good will prevail, they experience the deep security that things will turn out well.

Love, joy and peace. The trifecta virtues of the Holy Spirit. This is what Jesus embodied and trains into his apprentices. From this wellspring of love, joy, and peace flows the virtue of contentment. And just as love, joy and peace are others-centered, so is contentment.

Not so with discontentment. Discontentment struggles against love, joy, and peace because it is self-centered. Where love intends the good of others, discontentment focuses on self-preservation and self-gratification. Where joy basks in well-being from God and knows good will prevail, discontentment fears being unfulfilled and its accompanying misery. Where peace securely rests in the assurance of God’s goodness, discontentment worries and stresses that things will work out badly and manipulates events and people so things work out in my favor.

Again, the ultimate goal of spiritual formation is to become a person permeated with love as Jesus was, to intend the good of others. The deep contentment that Paul learned from Jesus, allowed him to pursue the good for God and others, confident that God intended his good, that God’s good for him would prevail, and therefore, he could rest assuredly that all things would turn out well. There was no need to be concerned about himself because he was in God’s care.

Imagine that kind of life. No worry about provision, reputation, time, finances, health, energy, opposition, danger, loss, and even death. When one learns true contentment flowing from the love, joy, and peace being formed in us, then all those things are truly in God’s hands and we are free to love and give without restraint.