"Contentment is a Christian virtue consisting in a correspondence between the desire of God's children and their present condition... The unconverted are to all good works reprobate and are not acquainted with the nature of this virtue. When they perceive it in God's children, they despise it as a low level of intelligence, day-dreaming, stoic insensitivity, and deem them unfit for loftier matters..."
He also notes that in this state:
"...they rest with delight [in God's will and sovereign determination], in quiet confidence, joyfully, and with gratitude, trusting that the Lord will cause the present and the future to turn out to their advantage. This causes them to utilize their present conditions to the advancement of their spiritual life and to the glory of God." Chp. 64 of Vol. 3 - The Christian's Reasonable Service, Wilhelmus a Brakel
Yes, I've received the insinuation of "low level of intelligence" and also "day-dreaming" and probably also something akin to "stoic insensitivity." I know I look strange to the world. Kind of like a living suicide. And there is really no way to explain it without sounding more strange to them. It's actually decisions I've made to not go in the direction of what I deeemed to be a living death. But the world hardly is looking for understanding anyway, it wants to tempt you or to kill you or imprison you at least. You have protection if you walk the high road, so the stand-off exists...
