Godliness with contentment is great gain. 1 Timothy 6:6
A mom felt she’d been overspending on family Christmas gifts, so one year she decided to try something different. For a few months before the holiday, she scrounged through yard sales for inexpensive, used items. She bought more than usual but for far less money. On Christmas Eve, her children excitedly opened gift after gift after gift. The next day there were more! Mom had felt guilty about not getting new gifts so she had additional gifts for Christmas morning. The kids began opening them but quickly complained, “We’re too tired to open any more! You’ve given us so much!” That’s not a typical response from children on a Christmas morning!
God has blessed us with so much, but it seems we’re always looking for more: a bigger house, a better car, a larger bank account, or [fill in the blank]. Paul encouraged Timothy to remind people in his congregation that “we brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” (1 Timothy 6:7–8).
God has given us our very breath and life—besides providing for our needs. How refreshing it might be to enjoy and be content with His gifts and to say, You’ve given us so much! We don’t need more. “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (v. 6).
What are you thankful to God for today? How might you learn contentment?
Father, You’ve blessed me with so much. Teach me each day to give thanks.
INSIGHT
Timothy first appears in Scripture in Acts 16:1: “Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek.” This brief introduction reveals some reasons why Timothy (which means “honoring God” or “honored by God”) made such an ideal protégé for the apostle. Paul, a Jew who’d embraced God’s call to be the “apostle to the Gentiles” (Galatians 2:8), now would have a young man to assist in the work who had a mixed heritage both ethnically and spiritually. With a Jewish mother and Greek father, Timothy would have grown up with his feet in both of those worlds, each with its own heritage and values. In addition, because it appears that his father wasn’t a believer in Jesus, he’d have been personally exposed to both the faith of his mother and the spiritual need of his father.