"But godliness with contentment is great gain." — 1 Timothy 6:6
You know, I was praying the other day and I caught myself doing something I'm not real proud of. My prayer had turned into what I used to call on Hee Haw, Lulu's never-ending shopping list. You remember that old sketch, just going on and on, asking for this and that, never stopping to be grateful. And there I was, doing the exact same thing. Ask, ask, ask. Want, want, want.
It got me thinking. If you sit down and try to count the things you do not have, that list is practically infinite. You don't have a mansion. You don't have a yacht. You don't have perfect health, a pain-free back, or enough hours in the day. You could spend every waking moment focused on what's missing, and you'd never reach the bottom of that list. Never.
But here's where it gets interesting, and I think this is what Paul was getting at in First Timothy. What if you flipped the equation? What if, instead of the things I lack being greater than the things I have, you reversed those mathematical signs? What if everything God has already placed in my hands, this breath, this day, this family, this salvation, what if I let that become greater than everything I'm still reaching for?
That's not settling. That's not giving up. That's actually the most radical act of faith you can perform.
There was a missionary in the early 1900s named Frank Laubach who became famous for his literacy work around the world. But before all of that, he was a struggling, overlooked man on a hillside in the Philippines, feeling forgotten and passed by. One morning he sat on a hill and made a decision to spend every waking moment conscious of God's presence and God's provision, right where he was, with exactly what he had. He wrote in his journal that the moment he stopped cataloging what he lacked and started resting in what God had already given, something broke open inside him. Out of that surrender came a literacy movement that eventually taught over sixty million people to read. All of it born from one man learning the math of contentment.
I'm too soon old and too late smart on this one, friend. I've spent far too many mornings rattling off my prayer list like I'm placing an order, when what God really wanted was for me to sit down and just say thank you.
Godliness with contentment is great gain. Not godliness plus getting everything you asked for. Godliness, plus the quiet trust that what He's already given you is exactly enough for exactly right now. That is the gain. That is the freedom.
So tonight, before you close your eyes, try something different. Instead of the shopping list, just start counting what you already have.
Let's pray: Father, forgive me for all the asking and so little thanking. You have been so good to me, and I have looked right past it reaching for more. Tonight I want to say thank You, for exactly where I am and exactly what I have, because it came from Your hand. That makes it enough. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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