Wednesday May 18, 2011

Speaker: Ben Sigman

Theme: Monopoly

Weekend Music links on iTunes: All Because of Jesus - Fee, Run - Hillsong, For Who You Are - Hillsong, Forever Reign - Hillsong

Read: 1 Timothy 6:6-21

Think: We were encouraged during Pastor Ben’s message to do a couple of things: First was to basically realize how blessed we are. And the other, remember all that we have really isn’t ours, but God’s and we are simply  managers of it!

It seems to me that what draws us away from those truths is that we haven’t learned to be content. For example think of a baby coming into this world… You know they don’t come with a whole lot. They’re not holding onto keys to a luxury car, or their stock portfolio. They don’t come into the world with anything but a little umbilical cord and that quickly gets cut and a cry to announce their arrival.

If you’ve attended a funeral, you’ve noticed the deceased doesn’t get to take anything with them. As the saying goes, you never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul. Yet we spend so much time and energy seeking after those things that mean so little when our time runs out.

The antidote is found right in God’s Word and what it teaches about being content. “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it” (1 Timothy 6:6-7 NIV).

What is contentment? Contentment means my happiness is not dependent upon my circumstances. Don’t get caught up into “when” thinking: When I get a certain job…When I can retire…When I get the house paid off…When I get the bills paid off…then I’ll be satisfied! But we all know that once we get there, we’ll always want something else. If we don’t learn contentment, we’ll never be happy. We’ll always want more.

Do: Take inventory. What is going to come with you after this lifetime? It isn’t the stuff we’ve accumulated, but the spiritual investments that bring honor to the Lord. Invest it that which outlasts this lifetime!

Pray: Lord, give me Your perspective and lead me to be content with what you’ve given me. Give me a heart that seeks after You and help me to be satisfied with the provision you’ve given. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.  

The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church.