“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5
In today’s consumerist society, we’re constantly being told to never be content with what we have. There’s always a push for more. More money, more fame, more pleasure, more material items. Our car still runs just fine but we feel like we need a new one because ours isn’t new enough or flashy enough or cool enough anymore. We make enough money to get by just fine, but we still want a raise. We have a closet full of clothes but we have nothing to wear. We’ve completely forgotten the “secret of being content” that the apostle Paul mentions in Philippians 4. Not only have we forgotten how to be content, but we’ve decided it’s better not to be.
The writer of Hebrews exhorts us to stop lusting after money and material possessions, but instead to be content with what we have. How can we be content though? Why should I be okay with what I have when other people have more, when I could find a way to get more? The answer is in the next sentence of our verse: “because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”
Our contentment comes from the knowledge that God is with us. Nothing more or less could ever really satisfy the longing of our souls. We try to fill ourselves with things and people and money, but God is the only true source of contentment. If you’re a Christian, be content knowing that God is with you. Be content knowing that no matter what, the creator of the universe, the all-powerful God of Moses and Jacob and Isaac and Abraham and Jesus Christ himself is with you! What greater power could there be? What greater riches could one attain? There is none. The sooner we learn that, the sooner we too will be content.
Prayer:
Father,
Help me to have faith enough to know that you’re with me. Help me to love you enough to value that fact above all else. Help me not to love money or materials above you, but to love and serve you above all.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
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