LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Piety and Contentment
"But great gain is godliness with contentment; for we have brought nothing into this world, and we shall not be able to get anything out of it. So then, having food and shelter, let us be content with this" (1 Tim. 6:6-8).
The issue of goods and money is of the utmost topicality in today's world. How can Christians resist the avalanche of offers, the game of vanities and the unbridled races to acquire things?
Paul warns that the problem of money will have extraordinary dimensions in the final days. In some time, Demas, a disciple, leaves the apostle, to go into the world. It is not known whether it was because of this specific issue, but even if there were others, it is difficult for this one to have been unrelated: "For those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts, which plunge men into destruction and perdition; for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (6:9-10).
The love of money is the root of all evils - says Paul. Someone might question this, but the word of God cannot be challenged or broken. For the sake of it, everything else is often put aside, forgetting family, faith, moral principles, everything. But, in the end, when the goal has been achieved, if it is achieved, it does not bring satiety. Bliss is always beyond the most ambitious economic goal, and it can never be reached.
That is why, in another place, Paul exhorts Christians in this way: "But this I say, brethren, that the time is short; subtract therefore ... let them that buy, (be) as though they possessed not; and let them that enjoy this world, as though they enjoyed not; for the appearance of this world passeth away" (1 Cor. 7:29, 30-31). This is a being in the world as not being, having as not having, not letting the heart become captive to things.
The writer of Hebrews says: "Let your conversation be without covetousness, being content with such things as ye have; for he said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Heb. 13:5). What wise teaching! "Content with such things as ye have now". That is contentment, satisfaction, in what God gives us today.
There will always be richer and poorer than we are. A comparative look can do us much harm. If we look at the former, we may see ourselves as poor and wretched; if we look at the latter, we may feel proud and haughty. Only looking at the Lord with gratitude for what he has provided us today can give us the "contentment" spoken of in these passages.
Godliness is more than believing, it is living what we believe. It is to move the valuation of spiritual, eternal things to the plane of the real and everyday. It is to make a landing of the sublime in the realm of small things, in the day to day. May the Lord help us to be consistent with what we believe.