In the Meantime (3) – Yes, You Can

Welcome to CROLCC, we are so glad you are here worshiping with us. What do you do when there’s nothing you can do? Relationally, financially, professionally, physically, or academically. It just is what it is. There’s nothing you can do to change your situation. We have been in our series In the Meantime and we discovered together in week one that God is not absent, apathetic or angry. Just because God seems absence, doesn’t mean He is. In fact, the opposite is true, God is always present. Last week we discovered that in the meantime, God’s grace is sufficient for you. But you need to embrace your situation, you need to own it. God can change your circumstances, but if he chooses not to for whatever reason, you have the option to receive adversity as a gift with a purpose and a promise.

Challenging circumstances can make you jealous or resentful. They can make you angry with God. They can also breed discontentment. But the problem with discontentment is that it can drive you in self destructive directions that will eventually leave you with regret. So, what is the secret of finding contentment even when times are tough? Let’s discover that today.

Moving Forward

We all face circumstances that stir deep discontentment within us. Relationships break, careers crumble, and dreams die. These things happen to everyone. But when it’s happening to you, you feel like you’re the only one who faces loss. The secret of contentment is Christ in you, empowering you. Think about your primary source of discontentment. You can’t. He can . . . and he will through you.

Changing Your Mind

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:12–13

Discussion Questions

1. Talk about a season in your life when you were fully content. What was it about that season that fed your contentment?

2. Do you know someone who lives with pervasive discontentment? If so, how does that discontentment affect the quality of his or her life?

3. Read Philippians 4:10–13. Does the kind of contentment the apostle Paul describes seem achievable in your own life? Why or why not?

4. What are some things that make it difficult for you to believe God may do extraordinary and unexpected things through your challenging circumstances?

5. What is your primary source of discontentment right now? What is one thing you can do to live with more contentment out of the knowledge that you can’t change your circumstances, but Jesus can? How can this group support you?