6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
I have been struggling with contentment in material things lately. We have moved and I have been looking at and shopping for a new TV. It is a struggle to not jump in and do an impulse purchase. Or, what I fight against is the “I am worth it and can afford it” pride filled battle. Currently we have a single 20″ eight year old tube set. It works. It plays DVDs and VCR tapes we plug into it. We have better sound by pumping the sound through a jimmy-rigged thirty year old stereo system. The remote doesn’t turn it off any more. We do that manually. I could go on building the list of reasons a new TV makes sense, and yet I am having a hard time weighing this purchase against some other needs I know about. There are some young girls who have been sold into the sex slave industry I could be helping more. There are some orphans who need a home to learn about Jesus and gather some basic living skills. There are some missionary kids whose parents are in other countries sharing Jesus who need an education, a game of kickball and Jesus with skin on. I want you to know that wealth in itself is not sinful. I know some very godly people who have wealth. But they also have generous hearts and lives. Their goal in life is not to be rich, but to live godly in Christ Jesus. As we have gotten older and our income has increased and our debt ratio has drastically diminished, we have more money to spend the way we want to spend. That is the rub. Our bills are all paid. We don’t worry about how those needs will be met. But how to spend the surplus, that is where the Lord is dealing with me currently. Am I willing to be content with what we have now, or am I going to seek happiness and fulfillment in more and better things? You see, money can say so much about our inner priorities. I have a responsibility for the care of my family. I must provide, with God’s provision, for the needs of my family. But I must also listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and be obedient to that prompting. I need to plan for retirement and trust God with the future. I must be a good steward of what I have if I want God to be able to trust me to be a conduit of material things in the future. I enjoy giving and reaching across the globe through financial giving. I just still struggle with some of the day to day purchases of life. And I think the struggle is healthy for me. It draws me in closer to Jesus, listening carefully to His voice and leading. And isn’t that what the life of a Jesus-follower is supposed to look like?
The Arnold Journey 