“Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.”
—1 Timothy 6:6-8
If we constantly murmur and complain about our lot in life, then our Christian confession that God “upholds and governs heaven and earth with all creatures, and nothing comes by chance” is nothing but empty chatter. Think how it looks to the watching world when we profess to love and trust the Lord on one hand, and on the other hand we grumble and complain about the situation or circumstances the Lord brings into our life.
Our text reads, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.” The Apostle Paul begins by saying that godliness with contentment is great gain. In other words, true godliness produces contentment, and this is great gain because the person who possesses these qualities is unmoved by outside circumstances. He is not driven by a love of money but is content with whatever the Lord gives, and he knows that the Lord will supply all his needs. “The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing” (Psalm 34:10).
The word content means “to be sufficient, to be full, or to be satisfied.” To be content is to have the confidence of faith in the sufficiency of God’s provision and grace which causes a person to be satisfied with their possessions and condition in life. It is to sing with the hymn writer, “Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still.” Contentment is a wonderful virtue that beautifies the Christian life like colorful flowers in front of a house. The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4, “I have all and am full.” And David wrote in Psalm 23 that he had “no need.” In other words, satisfaction and thankfulness flow from a life of contentment.
And so, the Apostle Paul says in our text, “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” The Greek text has “nothing” at the beginning of the verse for emphasis. “Nothing we have brought into the world and nothing we can carry out.” Job declared, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked shall I return there” (Job 1:21). And Solomon wrote, “As he came from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return, to go as he came and he shall take nothing from his labor which he may carry away in his hand” (Eccl. 5:15).
People who have a love of money are always discontent in life. The more they have the more they want and the more they want the more discontent they become. Proverbs 27:20, “Hell and Destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.” They spend their time pursuing that which can bring them no true peace or contentment, and they ignore the things that have eternal value. Eccl. 5:10: “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income” (Eccl. 5:10).
Rather, our text tells us, “having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.” In other words, be content, be satisfied with the basic necessities of life because if you are not content with little, you will not be content with much. As Jesus said, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15).
Friday Devotional: December 4, 2020
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry