Contentment

It is Saturday morning, 16th July 2022, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

1 Timothy 6:6:

“Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.”

I looked up the Oxford Dictionary to find out the literal meaning of the word, “Contentment’. It means a state of peaceful happiness or satisfaction, but remember this does not come naturally. It has to be learned.

Philippians 4:11:

“Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.”

My late dad was a prisoner of war in the 2nd World War. He was in Germany and in Italy for three and a half years. As a prisoner, he witnessed extreme hunger and starvation. As a rule in our little home, my brother, my sister and myself, as children were allowed to eat as much food as we wanted, but, there was a golden rule at the dinner table, whatever you put on your plate must be eaten. Nothing must be left over.  

I remember him saying it like it was yesterday, and that has been handed down to my own children and even my little grandchildren when they come to visit. I have often heard them whisper to their little friends that when they come to visit Khulu and Gogo, which is Zulu for grandad and granny, everything that you put on your plate must be eaten. But as I grow older I realise that most of the things in this life which we are chasing after are actually worthless. The wisest man who ever lived was Solomon and he said in the Book of Ecclesiastes 2:11:

“…all was vanity and grasping for the wind.”

Today, let us be content with what God has given us. Jesus had nothing. He didn’t even own a house and I don’t think anybody has ever been as content as He was. 

Amos 5:6 says:

“Seek the Lord and live.”

God bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.