For most people, there is a direct relationship between circumstances and happiness. When they perceive that things are going well they are happy, and when they think that things are going poorly they are unhappy. Happiness is not purely a function of wealth of poverty – a stressed rich person is more likely to be unhappy than a relaxed poor person – but happiness generally is related to a person’s subjective sense of well-being.
For Paul, however, happiness or contentment seems to have been more a decision than a subjective emotion. In the fourth chapter of his letter to the Philippians, he writes:
I am not saying that I am short of anything, because I have learned to be content in any conditions. I know how to live in poverty, and I know how to live in prosperity in any and all circumstances. I have experienced both being full and being hungry, both having plenty and not having enough. I can do all this through the one who strengthens me.
When following Jesus becomes the most important thing in your life, your priorities change. You are no longer limited to finding personal happiness and contentment in sensual pleasures or personal achievements; your life’s purpose has now become a part of God’s much bigger story, and you can now find contentment and happiness in anything that makes God happy, even if your personal circumstances are poor.