Happiness, that inestimable jewel, springs only from contentment. Christian contentment is founded in humility. The humble christian lives upon the fulness of God: thence he seeks all his supplies. Our Lord not only teaches his disciples the word of prayer, which any one may use, but he also gives the spirit of prayer peculiar to themselves only. This consists in knowing our wants; in seeking a supply of them from the Lord, and in daily looking to him for all the blessings of providence and grace needful for us as men and christians.
Do we know our wants? A proper sense of them will make and keep us low and humble in our own eyes, for we shall go out of ourselves and live out of ourselves. Do we want daily bread to support our bodies? Have we no spring of life in ourselves but what must be fed and nourished from the food we receive from day to day? Just so it is with our souls. Christ saith, "I am the bread of life." John 6:48. We have no inherent stock of spiritual food in ourselves; the man who thinks otherwise is as foolish as he would be who should say he has within himself a supply of natural food, he needs not pray for it.
Do we seek a supply from our Lord? He says, "Blessed are they which do hunger." Matt. 5:6. Their blessedness consists in coming empty to him to be filled: Give us. Lord, I am just the same hopeless, helpless, miserable sinner in myself, as I was when I first heard of thee and came unto thee. Give me this day my daily bread: thy flesh to eat and thy blood to drink. Thy flesh is meat indeed: thy blood is drink indeed. John 6:55. Lord, thou hast said, "He that eateth me, even he shall live by me." John 6:57. O that in feeding on thee by faith, I may know that I have eternal life, and that thou wilt raise me up at the last day.
This feeding is vastly preferable to disputing. True, we are exhorted to contend earnestly for the faith; but then it should be with a desire that our own souls and the souls of others may be edified, fed, and nourished by the faith of Jesus; else it is but vain jangling. Who would not contend for his natural food? How jealous, how watchful should we be against every enemy who would prevent our feeding upon Christ, the bread of life! The more we feed upon this bread, the less appetite we have for the pleasures of this world and the vanities of sense. Our spiritual food transforms us into the image of our Lord, and causes us to aspire after him and long to be with him. Precious promise! "Jesus shall feed his flock like a shepherd." Isa. 40:11.