Thursday, April 24, 2008

Contentedness Part 1

"But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness."
1 Timothy 6:11

I'm not completely sure if the title of this post is even a word...but oh well. I haven't been able to get to a computer much in the past week, hence the week long absence again...but hopefully I can make it up by what I found in 1 Timothy.

"If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. 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. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
1 Timothy 6:3-10

How many plexiglass preachers do we hear these days that preach about money? How often do we ourselves complain about it? When does concern over your finances cross over into worrying too much about money? Unfortunately, I have no clue. What I do know is, 1. Too many, 2. Too much, 3. Too quickly. As a college student, my finances is usually one of the main things I worry about. I'm always worried about if I'm going to be able to eat, or buy gas, or other things like that. But I shouldn't. At all. For a very good reason.

I started at Southeastern in fall of 2005. I had plenty of money over the summer, but due to some really, really stupid decisions on my part, I had none by the time I started college. And after books, I had less. And after my first month of rent, I had less. After a couple of weeks worth of groceries, I had none. After my first tuition payment, I had debt. Lots. And I could not get caught up. I never barely ever had money for groceries, much less anything else. And yet, I NEVER went without a meal. I never had to buy gas because I had a job I could walk to, and didn't have a car anyway. I am LIVING PROOF of Matthew 6:26.

So why can't I be content in what I have? Why must I have more? As I continue my journey towards higher integrity, I have to answer this. And it's a very hard answer. Please pray for me as I try to be content in everything God graces me with. Thanks...and I'll try to get a post up more often.

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