I want a settled heart and settled mind.
And I read seven words this morning that provide these to each of us if we’ll take God at His Word.
We could, of course, disbelieve what the Apostle Paul wrote in I Timothy 6:6. But that would be a big mistake.
It’s so much better to accept what Paul wrote as true.
Because we know it is.
“But godliness with contentment is great gain.”
We’ve seen plenty of people chasing hard after great gain but not in godly ways. They might actually end up with a lot of stuff, but what they won’t have is genuine contentment.
They’ll always want more because they’ll think it comes only from their hands, not the hands of God.
When God defines something as “great gain,” then that has to be something special. And I want some of that.
I pray that you do, too.
Pursue godliness, my friend.
Please don’t cheat yourself and God of devotional time or worship time, just so you can pursue making more money.
Please don’t cheat God of the tithes and other offerings because you think the Creator of the Universe can’t replace what you give.
Please don’t withhold compassionate gifts to the needy because you think you won’t have enough for yourself.
Celebrate and share the blessings you have. See them as something given you so that they’ll overflow into other people’s lives. For when we are contented, it’s because we recognize that we have more than enough and that we can share with others.
That’s when our faith begins to experience great gain, when the blessings we’ve gained are used to bring gain to another person’s life.
Hmmmm…. who is really the “poor” one in this life?
Is it the humble person in older clothes, driving an older car around to give away spare loaves of bread or whatever?
Or is the truly poor person the well-dressed sophisticate striving so hard to get more because they never feel they have enough?
Pursue great gain, my friend. Pursue godliness. Pass blessings to others and the contentment you’ll gain will be out of this world.
As always, I love you
Martin
