We have to be contented with what we have

To be contented means to be willing to accept a situation or comply with a proposed course of action. In that way we are reasonably happy and satisfied with the way things are. This is a good way of managing and preventing prolonged stress on our businesses and in our homes. Do not waste your time comparing what others have or what others think about you, concentrate on what you want to be, on what you want your business to be and on what you want your home to be and forget about the distractions that come; they will always come and what matters is how you manage them. If we are unable to have contentment with what we have then we will get on to worries and our Bible encourages us not to get worried. If the Lord is your shepherd, then why should you be worried because He will provide all your needs.

Do not get worried about your wants; the truth is that you do not need. I usually tell my brothers and sisters that ‘we do not have but we never lack’. Psalm 23:1 “Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want.” If you are not contented with the riches you have then you will never be satisfied even if you are given the whole world. Our scriptures tell us that the love of money is vanity; it is meaningless because you will never be satisfied if you love wealth. Ecclesiastes 5:10 “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance, with increase: this also is vanity.” Our Bible tells us not to even be worried about the basic needs such as food, drink, clothing because our Lord knows we need them and He will provide for us, but we have to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these needs will be given us (Matthew 6:31-33). Jesus Christ says we should be contented with our wages; Luke 3:14 “And soldiers also asked him, saying, And we, what must we do? And he said unto them, Extort from no man by violence, neither accuse [any one] wrongfully; and be content with your wages.” Does He mean that we should not strive for higher heights? NO! What He is saying is that we should be willing to accept the situation. If we cannot accept the situation, then we will be forced to extort, to cheat or to fraud in order to have more but these things are not acceptable by God and our Lord Jesus Christ tells the soldiers here.

To be contented is a Christian virtue and we have to live it. If we cannot hold on to it then when we face hash conditions we will be swept away from the ways of God. The apostle Paul gives us the example of his life and he says he has learned to be content in what ever circumstance. Most importantly, he says this is not by his strength but that he is ready for anything through the strength of the One who lives within him Philippians 4:11b-13 “for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know also how to abound: in everything and in all things have I learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want. I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me.” We need to understand that godliness is not a means to financial gain but godliness with contentment is great gain. 1 Timothy 6:6 “But godliness with contentment is great gain:” This should make us understand that godliness is not about material things. We should not come to God only when we need something, we should not look at God only with the eyes which sees what God will offer us. Many people today have lost the image of God and they only talk about God when they think of this blessing, that blessing and so on. They forget that their work as humans and as Christians is to glorify our creator in everything that they do and in every situation they find themselves. Some have fixed God to be like a robot who must bless when certain prayers are repeated some specified number of times. I have read books with prayers and phrases which say, ‘this prayer is very powerful’, ‘this prayer when said 10 times or 3 times, God will answer it in a special way’, and some theologians have also written things like that. I have read about the “prayer of Jabez”, and the author said God will always answer this prayer expanding your empire when you say the prayer. This is what is pulling most Christians now and moving them away from the focus. God is nota mechanical being or a robot who will only answer when certain codes are repeated as prayers for Him to react. That is not the God I know! If we accept those claim, then who is God over who? The person praying who controls God or God who gives us what we need and not what we want? 1 Timothy 6:7-10 “for we brought nothing into the world, for neither can we carry anything out; but having food and covering we shall be therewith content. But they that are minded to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” I have seen people taking very risky trips to meet men of God for wealth, for promotions and so on. None of these men and women go to ask God for His will in their lives but they what a miracle; the miracle which they had fixed in their minds. I hope and pray that what they will have will be God’s will in their life!

When you are contented, you are satisfied and you will concentrate on your own business and therefore you will work with your own hands. When you concentrate on your own business there are no distractions and so you will surely abound and therefore be capable of helping others who are in need; 1 Thessalonians 4:11,12 “and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your hands, even as we charged you; that ye may walk becomingly toward them that are without, and may have need of nothing.” The consequence of this is that when you are quiet and contented, working on your own business you will lack nothing and hence the needy will have a part in your blessing. If you are never satisfied, you will never give because you will always want more even with the little you have you cannot give. Hebrews 13:5 says “Be ye free from the love of money; content with such things as ye have: for himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee.” What causes the trouble in our society now is lust; because people are not satisfied with what they have. Even Christians, and when they ask God they do not have because of the motive behind. ‘I want to show people that…’, ‘I want people to see me like…’, ‘I most have this because this person has’, ‘How can this small man have this and I do not?’ Self centeredness is what is killing most of us today. We are more concerned about our pleasures than God’s glory. James 4:1-3 “Whence [come] wars and whence [come] fightings among you? [come they] not hence, [even] of your pleasures that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and covet, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war; ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend [it] in your pleasures.”