"Why is it difficult to be content when you have so much?

On the surface, it seems unnecessary to instruct someone to be content in times of prosperity. However, times of prosperity and abundance provide some of the strongest temptations to pull our hearts away from God. Jeremiah Burroughs was keenly aware that the riches of this world compete for our affections and challenge our contentment in Christ. Originally prepared as an appendix to The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, this book provides an important conclusion to Burroughs's sermon series on Philippians 4:11 12: "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: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need."

"Jeremiah Burroughs's "Hosea" combines exegetical rigor, theological astuteness, and experimental refreshment. In the great tradition of Puritan biblical exposition, Burroughs opens the inspired text, and has the text address the human heart. He mines the text for its meaning and doctrine, and translates his insights into wonderful applications. With great skill and ease, Burroughs sounds out Hosea's message - its threats of judgment, its calls to repentance, its promises of mercy, and its prophecies of Christ. Still today, Burroughs makes them resonate clearly and compellingly." -- Gerald M. Bilkes, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary

While hundreds of even Christian books today purport to help readers find contentment and happiness, few-if any-survive the test of time or human experience. This great book, written almost 400 years ago by Jeremiah Burroughs, addresses the basic problems of human suffering and discontent. More than that, it offers a timeless and tested solution. Like many other 16th and 17th century writers, Burroughs didn't mince words, cater to the fickle tastes of the reading public, or care about political correctness. He preached the truth. True contentment, he argued, is achieved by subtraction rather than addition; by surrender rather than struggle. The depth of thought by Jeremiah Burroughs and his fellow Puritan writers is rarely approached by modern authors. Burroughs takes readers through the ABC's of Christian living, pointing out that the root of discontentment is very often the failure to desire God's will in everything. Because true contentment comes from the inward state of the heart (rather than outer circumstances), a Christian can be content regardless of circumstances. The importance of learning to be content, for the Christian, would be difficult to overstate. Contentment helps in the battle against temptation, prepares the Christian for service, and brings comfort no matter how bleak the current outlook might be. "Certainly our contentment does not consist in getting the thing we desire, but in God's fashioning our spirits to our conditions," wrote Burroughs. He understood the big picture-that Christians who learn to be more content can better serve and glorify God. That fact, in the end, is why this book remains so important and useful for followers of Christ. Read and meditate upon this great work It will set your heart on fire and elevate your soul.