Bible Verses About Contentment

“I am not saying this out of need, for I have learned to be content regardless of my circumstances. I know how to live humbly, and I know how to abound. In any and every situation I have learned the secret of being filled and being hungry, of having plenty and having need. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

Paul writes from a prison cell that he has learned to be content whether he has plenty or little. His secret is not willpower but strength that comes from Christ.

“Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, so we cannot carry anything out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.”

Godliness joined with contentment is called great gain, because we arrive in the world with nothing and leave the same way. Food and clothing become a modest but sufficient standard.

“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence: “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?””

The writer links freedom from the love of money with God's promise never to leave or abandon us. Being content rests on who is present, not on what is in the account.

“Two things I ask of You— do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion. Otherwise, I may have too much and deny You, saying, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, profaning the name of my God.”

Agur asks God for neither poverty nor riches, only the food he needs. He knows that too little tempts a person to steal and too much tempts them to forget God.

“Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure with turmoil.”

A little with reverence for the Lord is better than great treasure with turmoil. The proverb measures wealth by peace, not by size.

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name.”

David begins with the statement that because the Lord is his shepherd, he lacks nothing. Green pastures and still water picture rest that God himself provides.

“My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty. I do not aspire to great things or matters too lofty for me. Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, both now and forevermore.”

The psalmist has stopped chasing things too big for him and compares his soul to a weaned child resting against its mother. Contentment here is a quieted heart, not a fulfilled wish list.

“The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure. The lines of my boundary have fallen in pleasant places; surely my inheritance is delightful.”

David calls the Lord his portion and his cup, and looks at the boundaries of his life as pleasant. Gratitude for what is assigned to you is a form of contentment.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.”

Jesus points to birds and wildflowers to show that the Father already cares for daily needs. He redirects our energy from worry toward seeking his kingdom first.

“Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many who are wicked. For the arms of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous. The LORD knows the days of the blameless, and their inheritance will last forever. In the time of evil they will not be ashamed, and in the days of famine they will be satisfied.”

The psalm says the little that a righteous person has outweighs the abundance of the wicked, and that God sustains the faithful even in lean times. Contentment includes trusting his care in a shortage.

“He who loves money is never satisfied by money, and he who loves wealth is never satisfied by income. This too is futile.”

Whoever loves money never has enough of it, and the same goes for loving wealth and what it brings. The Teacher exposes the treadmill honestly.

“Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of life that God has given him—for this is his lot. Furthermore, God has given riches and wealth to every man, and He has enabled him to enjoy them, to accept his lot, and to rejoice in his labor. This is a gift from God. For a man seldom considers the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.”

Enjoying food, work and the days God gives is described as his gift and as our proper lot. A person who receives life this way is kept from brooding over its length.

“And He said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.””

Jesus warns against every kind of greed, because a life is not measured by how much someone owns. It is the frame for the parable that follows.

“Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”

Paul warns that the desire to get rich pulls people into traps and grief, and that the love of money feeds many kinds of evil. The concern is the craving, not having possessions as such.