Circumstantial Freedom
Imagine with me for a moment that you had the ability to be content in all circumstances. What comes to mind with an idea like this? For me, there’s a sense of excitement of the freedom to be felt, but then there’s also a sense of impossibility. Contentment is widely determined based on perspective. So, where are the places that my perspective may be misinformed?
Paul talks about contentment as if it were a discipline or a practice. He says, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances… I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation… I can do all this through Him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:11-13). I find it interesting that Paul mentions “learning” this ability. And the way he has is by depending on Jesus.
Paul’s perspective was so fixed on God that his external circumstances, regardless of how hard or easy they may have been in the moment, were not able to disengage his fixation on Jesus. I’m convicted in even writing these words as I consider how this is possible. Paul’s perspective was one that saw Jesus as the prize – not the things Jesus may give him.
I have to be honest here, I spend a lot of my prayer life asking God for things to change. Those prayers aren’t necessarily wrong, but my posture tends to be one of: if I could just have this thing, or if my situation over here would change, then I’d be truly happy. What a vast misunderstanding of what Jesus came to offer us. Jesus did not come to earth, experience death and separation from His Father, then resurrect on the third day, so that I could have a nice house, a fast car, or a pretty wife. He did all this so that I could have a repaired, right, and renewed relationship with Him.
Paul understood this, which was why he was able to live his life from a place of union with Christ. He wasn’t living for food, or clothes, or pleasure, or accolades. He mentions this earlier in Philippians. Paul was a Jew of all Jews as he grew up. He was a Pharisee, which was like the upper-spiritual class of the time, well renowned, and was even part of the group that persecuted Christians before he was met by Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9).
Paul says the following regarding the world’s view of what mattered in his day, “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with Him” (Philippians 3:7-8).
This is a perspective from someone who had “made it” in his day. The top of that mountain was worthless compared to knowing Jesus. How often do we hear this in our culture today? Those who have climbed the mountain of riches, prestige, and fame are quick to relay the emptiness they felt at their arrival.
Paul had an experience with Jesus in Acts 9 and that changed everything for him. This same Jesus is offering Himself to all who would believe in Him today. Yes, that includes you, friend. If you’ve never had an experience with Jesus, I want to encourage you to pray a simple prayer like this, “Jesus, please reveal Yourself to me.” Keep praying that prayer and wait and see what he does over the coming days and weeks.
For those of you, like myself, who have accepted Jesus as your Savior but aren’t living out of this place of full contentment with Jesus just yet, I want to offer up a reminder: God is after your heart. If God is after our hearts, then we need to practice orienting our hearts towards Him as a form of spiritual practice. We also need to step into a further understanding of God’s Word, His story, and the sin that we have been saved from. The more that we are able to understand the reality of the separation from God that sin causes, the greater we will be able to appreciate the grace that God’s sacrifice truly offers.
Paul understood this in a way that brought true freedom to the way he lived his life. God’s intention was to save us from the allure of the world. As John says in 1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” The love of the world here being the things that take us away from God.
I long to be free from the things that take me away from the Lord, but I also recognize that I’m not there yet. I’m thankful that God is patient with us. He continues the good work that He started in us, and He is faithful to bring it to completion (Philippians 1:6). Take some time today to pray through this question of, where is my perspective contorted or misinformed? What are the things I’m longing for that aren’t God. He loves you, friend, exactly where you’re at. Invite Him to meet you there and ask Him to show you where the next step towards circumstantial freedom is for you. He’s been faithful before and He’ll be faithful now.
