Godliness and Contentment

The great Apostle writes "....godliness with contentment is great gain" I Timothy 6:6. I have been most intrigued in these last days with the world of business and its enterprise. Our nation, indeed the world, is carried away with its necessity to stoke its engines with the fodder of economy. Our leaders are pressed to balance the grand scales of economic justice and seemingly strive to equate wealth and substance with liberty itself. It is this freedom to thrive and flourish that sparks hope to a budding entrepreneur; one that makes it a cherished prize. It is this ideal that is attractive about industry, and there is nothing wrong with hard work; "consider the ant..." Proverbs 6:6. From practitioner to strategist, they are all fueled with the one thing that gives momentum to that engine; marketing.

Further, there are popular spiritual books today that make purpose a divine. They play on an inner spiritual hunger to matter, be relevant and say that there is a destiny for everyone. The spiritual and business gurus carefully orchestrate their cacophony of clever terms (thats a story for another entry); decisively, they too are engaged in the second oldest profession, selling, that is, highlighting a need and filling it.

We are swarmmed with media images, those Madison Avenue servings thousands of times per week. We are absorbed with culture and the material being of our lives. We can be trite about materialism; I can say much here, but I am more concerned with a more insidious product of the flesh, that is a lack of genuine contentment and rest in Christ. Remember the admonition of Hebrews 13:5 which encourages: "Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have, for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" . Are you able to rest in Christ? Our goal is not the temporal prizes of this earth; they are of another plain. The writer of Hebrews goes on to summarize, "For here (that is this earth) have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come" 13:14. We rest in Christ when we lose ourselves, that is dying to ourselves. We press into Him when we serve Him and serve others. Godliness with contentment is a precious refreshment; one that satisfies our souls. With love.