{"id":4316,"date":"2009-04-16T22:55:46","date_gmt":"2009-04-17T02:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/april2009\/?p=74"},"modified":"2009-04-16T22:55:46","modified_gmt":"2009-04-17T02:55:46","slug":"philippians-411","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/2009\/04\/16\/philippians-411\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippians 4:11"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>&#8220;I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be<br \/>\n       content.&#8221;<br \/>\n              &#8212; Philippians 4:11<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>These words show us that contentment is not a natural propensity of<br \/>\nman. &#8220;Ill weeds grow apace.&#8221; Covetousness, discontent, and murmuring<br \/>\nare as natural to man as thorns are to the soil. We need not sow<br \/>\nthistles and brambles; they come up naturally enough, because they are<br \/>\nindigenous to earth: and so, we need not teach men to complain; they<br \/>\ncomplain fast enough without any education. But the precious things of<br \/>\nthe earth must be cultivated. If we would have wheat, we must plough<br \/>\nand sow; if we want flowers, there must be the garden, and all the<br \/>\ngardener&#8217;s care. Now, contentment is one of the flowers of heaven, and<br \/>\nif we would have it, it must be cultivated; it will not grow in us by<br \/>\nnature; it is the new nature alone that can produce it, and even then<br \/>\nwe must be specially careful and watchful that we maintain and<br \/>\ncultivate the grace which God has sown in us. Paul says, &#8220;I have<br \/>\nlearned &#8230; to be content;&#8221; as much as to say, he did not know how at<br \/>\none time. It cost him some pains to attain to the mystery of that great<br \/>\ntruth. No doubt he sometimes thought he had learned, and then broke<br \/>\ndown. And when at last he had attained unto it, and could say, &#8220;I have<br \/>\nlearned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content,&#8221; he was an<br \/>\nold, grey-headed man, upon the borders of the grave-a poor prisoner<br \/>\nshut up in Nero&#8217;s dungeon at Rome. We might well be willing to endure<br \/>\nPaul&#8217;s infirmities, and share the cold dungeon with him, if we too<br \/>\nmight by any means attain unto his good degree. Do not indulge the<br \/>\nnotion that you can be contented with learning, or learn without<br \/>\ndiscipline. It is not a power that may be exercised naturally, but a<br \/>\nscience to be acquired gradually. We know this from experience.<br \/>\nBrother, hush that murmur, natural though it be, and continue a<br \/>\ndiligent pupil in the College of Content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.&#8221; &#8212; Philippians 4:11 These words show us that contentment is not a natural propensity of man. &#8220;Ill weeds grow apace.&#8221; Covetousness, discontent, and murmuring are as natural to man as thorns are to the soil. We need not sow thistles and brambles; they&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"twitterCardType":"","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4316\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}