Godliness with Contentment

Isn’t it amazing that the Holy Scriptures are so full of encouraging words to help us through the difficult times in our lives? Wouldn’t you like to be in the state of “godliness with contentment” for the rest of your life? Well, you can be! Godliness with contentment is not just a pipe dream or some unattainable nirvana that we can only dream about. It is an attitude that each one of us can have.

In 1 Timothy 6:1, 2 Paul tells Timothy that even slaves can have contentment with their lives. For just a moment, let us imagine that the phrase “the love of money” in verse 10 represents a fundamental dissatisfaction with the way things are in your life. It could be your lack of money or it could be your lack of happiness and peace. Now, we want to be careful and not make Paul say something other than what he actually says. However, I want you to notice an extraordinary statement in verse 6: But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. Paul does not mean that if you want more money, just be content with godliness and the money will flow in. What he means is that instead of worrying about how to get more money, try concentrating on what is really important: godliness. Be content with that and you will not believe the blessings involved.

Paul applies this lesson to the love of money and the discontent associated with it. We will apply the same lesson to any other problem area where we lack contentment. Are you in a difficult time at work, at home, at school? Are you tempted to take your eyes off Jesus and handle things your own way...or tempted just to run screaming into the night? That temptation may not be the root of all sorts of evil the way the love of money is, but you hit an impossible snag when you took your eyes off Jesus. You cannot solve your problem that way and you cannot experience the great gain that is promised here.

Maybe your life is not everything you would like it to be. I’m sorry. I really and truly wish that it could be. However, I know (have faith) that if you keep yourself faithful and remain content with the things God has given you, there is a promise of great reward laid up for you in heaven. I hope that realization makes it a little easier to be content with the life you have. God bless you this week and know that He loves you and so do I.