« Stewardship Devotional
Day Six - Contentment
Hebrews 13:5 “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”
Read
Hebrews 13:1-6
Apply
In the midst of exhorting Christians to live according to the gospel the writer to the Hebrews actually commands contentment. Just as contentment is a result of trusting God, it is also the means of trusting God. T o be discontent is to accuse God with being either unloving or impotent. Contentment with our life is therefore as important a virtue as love, hospitality, mercy, or fidelity.
Sadly, we live in a culture of discontent. Every day we see an average of 3,500 ads1, each trying to convince us that what we have is not good enough. We need something new, something better, something more fashionable. Desires become hopes, which become wants, which become ‘needs’. “I’ve just got to have that new HDTV wide-screen TV.” Once the newness wears off, it’s time for another new thing.
Paul advises Timothy to stay focused on the lasting joy of contentment. “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” (l Tim 6:6)
- Are you content with what you have? If not, then why?
- How do you handle the pressure to ‘keep up’, or conform to a higher standard of living?
Pray
For a renewed heart that is content with God’s provision, that isn’t always looking to new things for satisfaction.
Do
Carefully look at a few ads today. What type of ‘salvation’ or ‘better life’ do they promise (approval, peace of mind, comfort! prestige, etc.)? How do they entice people into thinking that their life isn’t good enough without this thing?
1 Statistic from New York Times research quoted in “Why The Devil Takes Visa”, Rodney Clapp. Christianity Today, October 7,1996
Copyright 1997. Redeemer Presbyterian Church of New York City