Contentment was an important test in Paul's life. After all, God said he would use it powerfully: "This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles, to kings, and before the son of Israel" (Acts 9 / 15). When Paul received this mandate, "he once preached in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God."
yet Paul was not anxious to see these things accomplished during his lifetime. He knew he had received a promise from God unwavering, and he was there. At every moment he was happy to fill his department, where it can be: witness to a jailer, a sailor, a few women at the edge of a river. This man had a mandate to preach in the world, yet he was faithful to witness to everyone he could cross.
Paul was not jealous of younger men who seemed to want to overtake. As they traveled around the world, Jews and Gentiles win to Christ, Paul was sitting in jail. He must listen to the stories of large crowds who were converted through the witness of men with whom he had fought for the Gospel grace. Yet Paul did not envy them. He knew a man abandoned to live in God knows lowering as in abundance. "It is indeed a great gain that godliness with contentment; ... so if we have food and clothing, we will be content" (1 Timothy 6 / 6, 8).
The world today could be said to Paul: "You're at the end of your life now. Yet you have no savings, no investments. Whatever you have, it is a few clothes. " I know what is Paul's answer: "Oh, but I won Christ. I said, I'm the winner. I found the pearl of great price. Jesus has given me the authority to abandon all things and take them back myself. Well, I left everything, and now for me a crown. I have only one goal in life: to see my Jesus face to face. All our present sufferings can not be compared to the joy that awaits me! .
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