**Book received for consideration. Post contains affiliate links. All thoughts are 100% my own.
It may surprise modern Christians that our current problems with discontentedness are anything but new. In 1643, Puritan pastor Jeremiah Burroughs wrote a work titled "The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment" that has as much resonance in our day as it did in his. Now pastor and author Andrew M. Davis helps contemporary Christians rediscover the remarkable truths found in this largely forgotten work.
With powerful new illustrations and a keen sense of all that makes modern Christians restless, Davis challenges readers to confront the sources of discontent in their lives and embrace Paul's teaching on contentment in all circumstances. He gives special attention to maintaining contentment through poverty and prosperity, as well as in our marriages, and offers tips on teaching children how to be content in an age of smartphones and social media.
Andrew M. Davis is pastor of First Baptist Church of Durham, North Carolina, and a visiting professor of church history at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Chairman of the governance committee of the Gospel Coalition, Davis has written articles for TGC's popular website and has spoken in plenary and breakout sessions at TGC's national conference. He is the author of Revitalize and An Infinite Journey, named by Tim Challies as one of the top ten books of 2014.
What does it mean to be content? The dictionary tells us that contentment is 'a state of happiness or satisfaction'. Hmm, that sounds easy enough, right? I mean, we all have points in our lives in which we feel content. Things are good. We have everything we need- perhaps even want. What's not to be happy about? Yes, contentment in the best of times is easy. In this book, we are give Jeremiah Burrough's outlook on the subject, "Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition."
In every condition. Well now, that's a little harder isn't it. When we live in a world of excess, where money is the sign of success and success is what we deem required for happiness... well, is it any wonder so many are discontent in their lives? I tend to think of myself as a fairly content person- I don't NEED a lot to be satisfied really, but as financial issues appear I find those thoughts creeping in. If only we had this... life would be so much easier. And you know, that's not untrue. Perhaps life would be easier, if only... but we are not asked to be content if only... but at where we are now.
This is a book that I feel that so many of us need! It takes an in depth look at what Christian contentment truly means, scriptural references on the subject and how we can strive to achieve it. It is a must read for both new and seasoned Christians alike, as this is a trap we all tend to fall into on occasion. And it's not just stuff... we might be discontent in our relationships, our jobs, with our family, with our weight--- even with our faith and the spiritual gifts we are given. And when we dwell on that discontentment, we lose out on the joy that God wants for us.
This is not a difficult read- though I think many of us might struggle as we see ourselves among it's pages... but it is certainly one that encourages you to think and dive deeper into the scriptures...and it is certainly packed full of those. I enjoyed digging deeper into the subject, and I would certainly recommend it to all Christians, but especially those who struggle to be happy in the circumstances we are given.
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"Pleasant words are as a honeycomb: sweet to the soul and health to the bones." Proverbs 16:24