A Leader Must be a Master of Contentment

The Art of Leadership By Dag Heward-Mills

… for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content –Philippians 4:11

Today, most of us do not live with the wisdom of the serpent – this is to be content with very little. When I saw a snake in the sands of the desert, I wondered what the snake would eat and how it would be able to survive in the Sahara Desert. Amazingly, the serpent is able to stay in the dry arid Sahara desert as well as in the cold icy snow of the Artic Circle. The first question that comes to mind is ‘What food will the snake eat?’ Some snakes can eat once a year or once every few months. How many of us can do that? Not having to eat very often is one of the keys to the success of snakes everywhere. Snakes are masters of contentment because with very little, yet are able to live for many years. They only eat once a while. Snakes don’t have to eat often and need a twentieth of the food of warm-blooded mammals their size. Because they have a slow metabolic rate, they can survive without eating for many days at a stretch. After a big meal, a king cobra can survive for many months without food.

When a minister of the gospel has the wisdom of a serpent, he will be able to live without needing many things. Like snakes, ministers must not need many things for the ministry to do well. If you are wise as a serpent, you will not need to have an air-conditioned house, a special car, a special house, a special office, etc., in order to work for the Lord.

Do not be deceived into thinking that the world has been reached with the gospel. Television ministry is not a substitute for a real pastor who lives in the village where the people need him. But where are the pastors who will go to the towns, the villages and the highways? The people who would have gone on these missions are prosperity-seeking members of large churches all over the world. To send such people, you would need to provide a certain kind of house, electricity, generators, special jeeps, special communication gadgets, a personal air ambulance service, emergency stand-by doctors, international schools for their children, and the list goes on.

The serpent, however, does not need all these things to survive. It actually needs very little to stay alive and to persist in that environment. Today, there are many countries that do not have electricity and water at all. Some of these places are in great need of pastors and evangelists. Who will go there? Only those with the wisdom of the serpent! Only those with the wisdom of contentment!

Paul and the Spirit of Contentment

Paul had the spirit of contentment. He had received a command from the Lord to be content in every circumstance. To be content means to be stable, happy and satisfied with your circumstances. God’s command to us is to have a spirit of contentment. Paul reveals that God had instructed him to have that attitude. Amazingly, Christians today do not have that attitude. Is it that we are not hearing the voice of God? Has the spirit of the world taken over? Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I AM INSTRUCTED both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Philippians 4:12-13

Discontentment is what caused the kings of Israel to fall into error. God warned them not to go grasping after many extra things. Similarly, God is warning ministers of the gospel not to seek to multiply worldly things unto our lives. How can you work for the Lord when you are following the burning desires of your eyes and your flesh?

You either have the spirit of contentment or the spirit of the world! When you have the spirit of the world, you are full of grasping desires for what everyone else has. How can you be content when you are filled with grasping, longing and striving for the things in this world? If you see someone having something, you must also have it. It is this spirit of comparison and competitiveness that opens the door for the demons of the world to flood into your soul. The spirit of the world is described clearly in the Bible. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16).

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