Pastor John D Jakes

Godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. – 1 Timothy 6:6-8

In our advertising saturated world, the concept of contentment is almost impossible to find. We are constantly told that what we presently have isn’t good enough, fast enough, or cool enough. We are never supposed to be satisfied with what we have.  We are never supposed to have enough.  Contentment is a foreign concept.  In the world, contentment is almost a bad word.  It is beneath us.

Yet, God’s Word challenges us with a counter cultural reality: the only way to really have a full life is to find the secret of contentment.  Full lives are not lives that are full of money or stuff.  Full lives are not found in the abundance of our possessions. What is the secret to real life and happiness?

Paul’s letter to Timothy gives a profound clue regarding how a person becomes contents. Did you catch what he said? He said, “For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.” To put it another way: was the baby alive when it did not have a stitch of clothing?  Will you, the believer, be wonderfully alive with God when you leave your possessions here on earth when you die?  The answer to both those questions is a resounding, “Yes!” Possessions will not make that baby more wonderfully alive. In fact, he will not care in the least whether he has much or little.  It will not make him one more iota alive if his baby blanket is an old sheet that his mother carefully wraps him in or a designer baby towel. Likewise, the Christian who dies will not be more alive when he goes to be with Jesus no matter if he has a mansion or a cardboard box.

Life has very little to do with possessions.  This is the secret to contentment.  When life is about living, it becomes possible to become content.  The goal is to live.  It isn’t about having things.  It is about living for the relationship we can have with our God.  Have you found the secret of contentment? Have you made your life about living or about having?

Something to think about,

Pastor John