TOPIC: CONTENTMENT AND GODLINESS
MEMORISE:
Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife.
Proverbs 17:1
READ: 1 Timothy 6:6-11.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
MESSAGE:
One value lacking in many 21st Century Christians is commitment, and this affects godliness as well. 1 Timothy 6:6 says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” Unfortunately, many Christians these days are living in a constant state of discontent. Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 says no amount of money can satisfy those who love riches. Moreover, the more material things you acquire, the more responsibility you have to maintain them. Many rich people cannot sleep well because they are too conscious of those who might steal from them.
I am sure you can point to numerous people who are enriching themselves illegitimately, acquiring ill-gotten wealth. There are people who loot the treasury of their counties, carting away billions into foreign bank accounts. What good have these billions done to their physical bodies, not to talk of their souls? It is pure vexation of the spirit, according to king Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:14. However, a laborer who has contentment always has a good appetite to eat the modest food available and sleeps like a baby after the day’s work, whereas the rich without contentment will not sleep- thinking of how to accumulate more riches and what to do to preserve it. This is why many of such people are chronically stingy- suspecting everyone around them to be a cheat. A rich man in a city in Nigeria wanted to give me all his houses so that I would pray for him to be able to sleep. I told him to keep his houses because my sleep is more important to me than a thousand houses that were built with ill-gotten wealth.
Do you want to enjoy life in abundance? Seek the Lord today. He said:
“…I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10
A person who is content is the richest fellow in the whole world. You can become content if you are godly. To be godly is to be compliant with the dictates of the unchanging word of God.
It is good to be ambitious, to want bigger and better things for yourself. However, be careful not to desire material prosperity at the expense of your spiritual growth.
PRAYER POINT:
Father, please give me godliness and its twin- contentment, in the mighty name of Jesus.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Jeremiah 12-16.
AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE
HYMN 23: STANDING ON THE PROMISES OF CHRIST MY KING.
1. Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
Through eternal ages let His praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.
o Refrain:
Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.
2. Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.
3. Standing on the promises I now can see
Perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me;
Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free,
Standing on the promises of God.
4. Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord,
Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,
Standing on the promises of God.
5. Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
List’ning every moment to the Spirit’s call,
Resting in my Savior as my all in all,
Standing on the promises of God.
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