Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”
Our Bible verse for today: “Give me neither poverty nor wealth; feed me with the food I need. Otherwise, I might have too much and deny You, saying “Who is the Lord?” or I might have nothing and steal, profaning the name of my God.” Proverbs 30:8-9 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Learn to be content.”
Have you ever secretly wished you could win the lottery? Perhaps you’ve even prayed for it. Maybe you’ve actually talked to God and promised Him “If you let me win that jackpot I promise I’ll do only good things with the money.”
By now we’re all familiar with the many studies that have been conducted which show that the overwhelming majority of people who win large amounts of money in a lottery actually end up worse off than they were before they had the money. Wild living, broken relationships, divorce, substance abuse, even early death are all common among those who have suddenly reaped a huge windfall of money.
We know that’s true and yet we don’t believe it would be true of us. We would be the one who would bless the world with it. Orphans would be fed, church buildings constructed, homeless people housed, a cure for cancer would be found, and the world would be a better place because I was suddenly rich. Uh huh. It almost never turns out that way. The truth is that most of us wouldn’t handle sudden riches well and God knows it. Most of us are better off having just enough, but not too much.
That’s the point the writer of Proverbs 30 was making in these verses. If we have too much, we become self-reliant and we tend to forget how much we need God. If we don’t have enough, we could become desperate and do things we shouldn’t do. Just enough is enough. This is a lesson the Apostle Paul made several times in his own writings:
“But we encourage you … to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, so that you may walk properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone.” 1 Thessalonians 4:10-12
“But contentment with godliness is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out. But if we have food and clothing we will be content with these.” 1 Timothy 6:6-8
Unfortunately contentment is something we struggle with in our culture. We are conditioned to never really be content. We live in an age of conspicuous consumption. The goal of advertising is to make us unhappy with what we have and to convince us that we must have something more. Therefore we’re conditioned to constantly consume whether we really need it or not. And that of course, will always require more money than we have. That’s where debt comes into the picture. In our day acquiring more stuff doesn’t require having the money to pay for it. You can charge it. But then your disposable income gets eaten up with debt payments and you have even less cash for the things you need and want. So you incur more debt. And on it goes.
The answer is to be content. The great Christian writer G.K. Chesterton once observed: “There are two ways to have enough: One is to continue to acquire until you eventually have it all, and the other is to be content with what you have.”
I encourage you to be content with what you have.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 