1 Tim. 6:6-12, Peace/Patience vs Sins of Selfish Ambition (8)

Are some people just naturally more “content” than others?  Does contentment depend on my economic status?  Or is it possible to learn contentment regardless of my bank account?  For those who walk in the Spirit, contentment can and must be learned.  That is what Paul said in Phil. 4:11: I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.  What must we learn?

·       By the grace of God, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, we must learn to find satisfaction in God, the All Sufficient One.  I am always so encouraged by Abraham.  He went from pleading with God to let Ishmael be the “son of promise” (Gen. 17:17-18) to being willing to sacrifice Isaac in obedience to God (Gen. 22).  Certainly, a key to this journey of faith was God’s revelation to Abraham in Gen. 17:1: I am Almighty God (El Shaddai); walk before Me and be blameless.  To walk faithfully before God is only possible with God’s daily provision.

o   Finding satisfaction in God is a faith issue, of course.  It is seen in our prayer life.  Anxiety is a symptom of selfish ambition, and Phil. 4:6-7 tells us that praying about everything brings peace in place of anxiety.

·       Learning contentment involves learning to guard our eyes.  Remember how Eve “saw” that the fruit was good?  Like Job, we need to make a covenant with our eyes (Job 31:1).  Several years ago I came across the following questions to ask before you buy (it was in the Alliance Witness magazine, July 14, 1976). 

o   Can I afford it? (It’s an issue of needs vs. wants; 1 Tim. 5:8).

o   Can I be content without it?

o   Will I still be able to be generous (1 Tim. 6:17f; Prov. 3:9)?

o   Will I still love God?

o   Will it make me anxious?

o   Am I being greedy or proud?

o   Is it a necessary debt (Rom. 13:8)?

o   Do I have all the facts?  Have I sought advice?

o   Have I prayed about it?

o   Will it honor God?

o   Have I asked God to provide it?

·       Lastly, we need to learn to serve others, especially with our possessions.  This actually brings us back to the central idea of “the fruit of the Spirit.”  The context of Gal. 5 is “by love serve one another” (5:13).  Consider what a difference this would make in the illustrations we noted in our previous post.  The wandering Israelites, Lot, King Saul and Jesus’ disciples would have been so God-honoring.  In fact, that is what Jesus told His disciples and they, by the power of the Spirit and the grace of God, did learn that lesson.  Let’s ask the Lord to make us servants to our family, people in our neighborhood or workplace, and so forth.