2015: Godliness with Contentment

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” - 1 Timothy 6:6-10

I know that was a handful of verses, but I’ve been convicted about seeking contentedness in life. Let me explain. I listened to a sermon over these verses a skiing vacation with my family. It may or may not have been a Judah Smith sermon.

The Sunday I came back, I heard Pastor Chae give a personal testimony about his past life. It was about the struggles and temptations he faced with materiality. Especially in America, society drives you to keep buying new things for yourself to find satisfaction. In the afternoon, I went to visit my old church and heard my pastor preach about the dangers of the lust of money. That same evening, I saw Lecrae (who is a Christian rapper), share a devotional he had about the same verses (1 Timothy 6:6-10). Coincidence? I think not.

“Godliness with contentment is great gain”. I find myself putting my identity in so many different things. I’m sure you’re the same as I am. We put our identity in our job, financial status, number of followers, likes, friends on facebook, retweets, etc. If you think about it, it’s quite silly that we gain our confidence and meaningfulness through these things. All these things fluctuate, and they are always shaky and changing. For example, you can’t control the economy. Therefore, you are not in full control of your money. The same can be said for everything else in this world.

Which leads me to this verse. “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” Isn’t it funny that the pursuit of money/wealth leads to dis-contentedness? We think money equals true wealth, but we’re always left unsatisfied. We always want to buy more things. The Bible says otherwise. True wealth lies within contentment. And contentment is tied to godliness. 

According to Judah Smith, godliness basically means having “God awareness”. If we are aware of God, then we should easily be content with our lives. How does that help us be content? Let's think about it. Isn’t God faithful? Won’t He provide what is necessary? If God is faithful, which He is, then why are we constantly trying to take over our life to ease our worries and satisfy ourselves?

If we are aware of God, then contentedness should be apparent in our lives. Just to be clear, contentedness does NOT mean laziness or settling down in life. Contentedness means to have a settled heart/mind/soul because we know who is in control of our lives. 

I want to be aware of God’s presence throughout this year because I know it will give me a settled heart, mind, and soul. I want to put my identity in Him because He is constant and never changing.