Contentment. 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. When was the last time we were supposed to be satisfied with our car or our phone?! 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.
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
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 content. 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: the baby was alive when it did not own a stitch of clothing. You, the believer, will be wonderfully alive with God when you leave your possessions here on earth when you die. Both of these declarations are gloriously true. 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 he has much or has little. Likewise, the Christian who dies with little will not be any less alive when he goes to be with Jesus than the person who had much. All who die in Christ will be equally alive with Jesus either way!
Real living has very little to do with possessions. This is the secret to contentment: when life is about living (serving Jesus, loving others, sharing the gospel), contentment follows. The goal is to live. It isn’t about having things. When life is about living, it doesn’t need things. When life is about the relationship we can have with our God and with people it is real life. It is a content life. Have you found the secret of contentment? Have you made your life about living or about having?
Something to think about,
Pastor John
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