Everywhere we look, we are confronted with messages telling us about the things we need to be happy and whole. If only we can get, the better phone, go on the better vacation, drive the better car, get into the better college, then we will be content. We will be complete. The problem is once we get the things that we thought would bring contentment, it isn’t long before our focus shifts to something else. It seems like we’re constantly searching for contentment and never finding it.

Discussion Questions

Think of a time when you truly felt content. What were the circumstances? What made you content?

Has there ever been a time in your life when one of your “if only’s” became a “have to have”? What kind of effect did it have in your life? What were the results?

Read Philippians 4:11-13 and consider that Paul is writing from prison. How do his words strike you? Does what he is saying feel attainable?

In Philippians 4, Paul talks about “the secret to being content in any and every situation.” What is the secret? How would you express it to someone else?

What is one thing you could do this week to practice being content?

Further Reading

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Common Cents Part Four: Giving It All To God

CONTRIBUTORS Larry and Linda: Owners of a successful private dental practice turned career missionaries in West Africa and then Papua New Guinea. Currently reside in Owings Mills nearby to their grandchildren and daughter Kristen, who is the Nursery Coordinator here...

Giving Matters

Money can activate either greed or generosity within us. When God urges us to share our financial resources for the good of others, He doesn’t do so by appealing to guilt or obligation. God tells us that we can invest in things that really matter by sharing the money...

Debt Matters

We are created to crave. We all want something. And we all realize that there’s something lacking in our lives, so we always want more. More food, more time, more money, more stuff. But with all of our desire for more, our ability to get more is always limited. So we...

Common Cents Part Two: Delivered from Debt

CONTRIBUTORS Rich and Stephanie: A financially comfortable couple who decided to get serious about overcoming their debt and changing their spending habits as their children approached college age. . Rob and Cora: A couple whose debt nearly caused the demise of their...