1 Timothy 6:6-8 – But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.

THEME OF THE DAY. THE SIMPLE LIFE. Three of the most deceitful and soul-damaging sins we may commit are complaining, procrastination, and discontentment. These sins are deceiving because of the ease of which we not only commit them, but repeatedly commit them, and take little notice that they are great offenses against God. Think about it. Complaining about anything from disobedient kids to insensitive spouses to the weather is a direct attack on the sovereignty of God who works all things, yes, even the weather, according to the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11). And procrastination? This is a direct act of disobedience to known commands. Jesus said, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord’, and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46). We may make excuses for disobeying known commands, but that is only self-deception to our own peril. We never find God okaying our procrastination to obey known commands. Then we come to the topic of the day – discontentment. Here we find another attack on God’s character. Discontent says, “God, I don’t deserve this treatment and I deserve more from You than I have.” Don’t go there. We don’t want what we really deserve from God. And should we want to investigate reasons why we might not be enjoying the Christian life full of joy, purpose, and peace as God intends, we may want to do some soul-searching to see if we are complaining about anything, putting off known commands, and being dissatisfied with God’s provision in our lives.

In today’s scripture, the Apostle Paul teaches us a couple lessons about living the simple life or the life of contentment. Let’s consider three.

First, our number one priority in life is godliness – “but godliness with contentment is great gain.” Friends, this life is to be lived preparing for the next life. We parent for eternity. We work in our vocations for eternity. We build our marriages for eternity. We invest in relationships with people for eternity. We use our money, time, and energy for eternity. Godliness, or becoming like Christ, is God’s primary work in His children and is to be our primary pursuit in life. And Paul is giving us a warning. The implied warning is this . . . be discontent and ungodliness occurs. The world is discontented. Christians are not of this world and thus are to be contented in God’s working out of His will in their lives (Philippians 2:12-15).

A second lesson on the simple life of contentment is to live understanding the fleeting nature of life and the fact nothing in this life is going to last beyond the grave – “for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.” As we came into this world empty-handed so will we leave this world. Keep that perspective on material things and we will find ourselves investing more “stuff” in the eternal realm where it really matters.

The third lesson toward living contented is learn the self-discipline to say “no” to the flesh and its craving for wants beyond our needs – “But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content”. We don’t need the latest update to our phones. We don’t need the next book by our favorite author. And the list goes on and on . . . let’s not make our wants trick us into becoming our “needs”. We need three things in life; a close relationship with the Lord Jesus, food, and clothing. Period. Yes, God gives us all things to enjoy, but that doesn’t mean we are controlled by things to enjoy (1 Timothy 6:17). I think it speaks volumes of what drives our hearts and where our hearts really are when we invest more on the pleasures of the world than the work of the kingdom in this world.

God calls us to a simple and contented life. Let’s seek it because the level of our joy in the Lord depends upon our level of contentment in all things.

PRAYER: “Father, help me keep life simple and not be deceived by the world and devil to crave more than my needs.”

QUOTE: “To be satisfied with life’s needs is the key to walking in contentment with the Lord’s sovereign provision for us.”