Walking my dog along the shore, I’d become entirely engrossed in beachcombing. Gleaming sea glass, soft twisty bits of driftwood and little pebbles soon filled my pockets. But as I lingered, the tide quietly rose, forcing me to navigate deeper waters and slippery rocks. I was desperate not to lose my footing or my dog.
Eventually we arrived home unharmed. But as I surveyed my trinkets, I began to think what they might well have cost me. How I wished I’d kept my eyes on where I was going, rather than on what I could collect along the way!
Similarly, Paul issues a warning to Christians as we walk through life. Those with sights set on collecting the treasures of this world “fall into temptation and a trap”, potentially leading to “ruin and destruction” (1 Timothy 6:9). So easily we can lose sight of where we are going. I was meant to be heading home, just as all of God’s people are journeying towards our true home.
That’s why Paul urges, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it” (vv. 6–7). We can’t keep a single piece of the ‘treasure’ we collect here. But we can learn to be content with God’s daily presence, and provision—whether much or little—in our lives (v. 8), knowing that each day we are slightly closer to being home.
By Debbi Fralick
REFLECT & PRAY
Have your eyes been lured away from your true home by the treasures of this world? What “great gain” would godliness with contentment bring to your life?
Heavenly Father, I pray that You would help me fix my eyes on where I am going, not on what I can collect along the way.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
In 1 Timothy 6:6–7, the apostle Paul states, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” His words are reminiscent of Job’s: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:21). Yet these men differed in more than the suffering they endured, for Paul knew why he suffered whereas Job didn’t. Paul was “fight[ing] the good fight of the faith” (1 Timothy 6:12 ), and he understood that trials and persecution often accompanied this spiritual battle. As 2 Corinthians 11 details, Paul’s life as an apostle included beatings, stoning, prison, hunger, thirst, and more. Yet Paul had “learned to be content whatever the circumstances . . . through him who [gave him] strength” (Philippians 4:11–13).
Alyson Kieda
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