The Biblical way is the way of contentment. In the last verse of the 5th chapter of Galatians, we hear the Word of God saying, "Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another." In another place at another time we hear the Apostle Paul sounding this same theme, even more explicitly, as he writes to the Christians at Philippi, "I have learned to be content with whatever I have..." (Philippians 4:11) Envy and competition and not being content has been the downfall of many a preacher. It has also been the downfall of many a believer who is on the road toward home.
It is an easy thing to let the spirit of discontentment drive us to a place where we lose sight of who we are and the fact that God has put us where He wants us to be. Usually, discontentment takes root as we start looking around coveting.. When God gave Moses those Ten Words on the mountain, the last one etched in stone was, "You shall not covet ...anything that belongs to your neighbor." (Exodus 20:17) While some might say that money is the root of all evil, I have a hunch that it could easily be replaced by coveting, or desiring what is not ours, but belongs to another.
When we want what belongs to another, we are not only breaking the 10th Commandment, but we are also expressing a basic distrust of God. It is as if we are saying to God that He could do better by us, or that we are special, or that we deserve more blessings than we seem to be receiving from Him. The Apostle Paul understood about contentment. He could have looked at the apparently favored position of the disciples such as Peter and John, but instead he went about what God had put before him with thanksgiving and joy. This road of contentment is a road wisely taken.
It is an easy thing to let the spirit of discontentment drive us to a place where we lose sight of who we are and the fact that God has put us where He wants us to be. Usually, discontentment takes root as we start looking around coveting.. When God gave Moses those Ten Words on the mountain, the last one etched in stone was, "You shall not covet ...anything that belongs to your neighbor." (Exodus 20:17) While some might say that money is the root of all evil, I have a hunch that it could easily be replaced by coveting, or desiring what is not ours, but belongs to another.
When we want what belongs to another, we are not only breaking the 10th Commandment, but we are also expressing a basic distrust of God. It is as if we are saying to God that He could do better by us, or that we are special, or that we deserve more blessings than we seem to be receiving from Him. The Apostle Paul understood about contentment. He could have looked at the apparently favored position of the disciples such as Peter and John, but instead he went about what God had put before him with thanksgiving and joy. This road of contentment is a road wisely taken.
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