Contentment: The Foundation for Covenant Marriage

Contentment before Marriage

2 min

Contentment is one of the rarest and most elusive of Christian virtues. Contentment can be defined as “realizing that God has provided everything I need for my present happiness.” To be content is to rest in the knowledge that God knows more than we know and that He is working all things together for our good.

The Apostle Paul testified in Philippians 4:11, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” Does this attitude apply to singleness, courtship, and marriage? Indeed it does! In fact, there is good evidence that Paul himself was not married. Anyone, young or old, single or married, healthy or disabled, rich or poor, can learn to be content.

Notice that contentment is a virtue that must be “learned.” It does not come easily, nor can we merely tell someone “be content,” and they will automatically and immediately adjust their frame of mind. No, the process of learning contentment is sometimes a difficult and painful one.

Many Christian young people who are living in a state of singleness struggle with contentment. Being content is especially hard when they see their friends and their siblings getting married and starting families. Yet, somehow the “right one” for them has not yet come along.

If this is your condition, take heart. God knows your situation! You can rest assured that if He has not yet provided a spouse for you, He has your best interests in mind. Maybe the Lord is still working on developing the potential of your future spouse. Or maybe God has chosen you for the special task of serving Him in the state of singleness for a few years or perhaps for the rest of your life. Or maybe God is simply providing an opportunity for you to learn contentment.

No matter your present state, the sooner you learn contentment, the better off you will be in years to come.

No matter your present state, the sooner you learn contentment, the better off you will be in years to come. A young person who struggles with contentment while single will discover that he does not automatically become content as a married person.

Young people who are single sometimes are shocked to learn that married couples also struggle with contentment. Some couples are blessed with children right away. Some couples, for various reasons, are unable to have children for several months or even years. Still other Godly couples are unable to have children at all. Married couples can also become discontent with their station in life, their income level, their house, their car, or saddest of all, with their marriage partner.

Discontentment will continue to plague you throughout your life unless you learn as soon as possible to be content with the state God has placed you in at this moment. There is no time like the present to learn contentment. If you can be content with what God has given you now, you can be content with whatever God plans to give you in the future.

Thank God for what He has done, what He is now doing, and what He plans to do in the days yet before you. In future articles, we will explore much more on the importance of contentment as a foundation for a strong marriage. We should each ask ourselves, at whatever stage we may be: what might the Lord be using right now in my life to teach me patience and contentment?

This article is from our Matters of Life & Death teaching series.

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