For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
Tough lesson today. “How Much Land Does a Man Need? That’s the title of a story by Leo Tolstoy. The moral of the story is “six feet from his head to his heals is all he needed.” You see, the rich peasant was never satisfied. He always wanted more. He heard of a wonderful chance to get all the land he wanted, but he had to make it back by sundown or lose all his money. He didn’t have enough time and ended up dying trying to rush back to save the rest of his money. So his servant buried him and that’s what he was left with after his greed ended him. It’s still true today. I see slogans out there saying “all I want is a little more than what I’ll ever have.” We live in a society that believes that they need more to be happy. It’s in every advertisement out there, “you can’t be happy unless you own our product.” You can even get your “happiness” now and pay later. The Bible shows us that God has called His people to a life marked by contentment. Becoming a godly person brings us great gain, not necessarily in the material realm, but in the inner person. Part of the gain of godliness is contentment. And the Bible teaches us that “contentment comes from having the priority of godliness, not gain.” We were born with nothing but the love of God. My dad always taught me to appreciate everything I’ve been blessed with on this Earth, but he also always added “just remember, it’s just an Earthly possession, you can’t take it with you.” It’s hard, but do your best to avoid temptation. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Spiritual Steve 