Mystery of Contentment -- Part 1

Mr. Carroll covers the first seven aspects of Burroughs' "mystery of contentment," beginning with the paradox that the contented Christian is simultaneously the most satisfied and most unsatisfied person alive—satisfied with little yet never satisfied apart from God Himself. Key arguments include that contentment comes by subtraction of desires rather than addition of possessions, by burdening the heart with one's own sin to make afflictions seem light by comparison, by metamorphosizing afflictions into mercies, by performing the duties of one's present condition rather than waiting for circumstances to improve, by melting one's will into God's will (citing the warning of Psalm 106:15 that God "sent leanness into their soul"), and by purging inward corruption through the washing of the Word (James 4:1–7).