Burroughs on Christian Contentment
In his book "The Rare Jewell of Christian Contentment", Jeremy Burrough's, a member of the Westminster Assembly, defined Christian contentment as the following:
"...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." (p. 19 - all references from Banner of Truth's Puritan Paperbacks edition).
When I first read this sentence I stopped dead in my tracks. I began to read it over, this time more slowly...as if I were trying to soak up each word. This was it! This was the definition of contentment, and Burrough's nailed it 350 years ago! Contenment is essential an inward quality, not a behavorial quality. It is a state of being, and not a state of doing. It is nothing I can do, but is something I must be.
But before we can become content, we must determine if we even want to be so. On page 23, Burroughs writes, "A gracious heart so esteems its union with Christ and the work that God sets it about that it will not willingly suffer anything to come in and choke it or deaden it." Am I this zealous regarding my union with Christ? Am I willing, as Burroughs commends, "to spend [myself] and to be spent in discharging" service to the Lord (p 23). Do I continually stand willing to cut out from me anything that compromises my committment to Christ? Do I truly hate my sin?
In other words, do I even want to be a disciple? In an of myself the answer is clearly "no". Whatever faith I possess, it is not the wonderful faith that was the center of Burrough's heart and life. But...I want this kind of faith, and I will only find it as I lay myself before the cross of Christ.
"Father, it is only be your great mercy that I can have the faith to be completely content in you. Teach my to walk in your ways. Convict me of my sin, even as you lead me into the center of your heart. Amen".
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