THE EYES OF MAN ARE NEVER SATISFIED

DIVINE CONTENTMENT PART 2

THE EYES OF MAN ARE NEVER SATISFIED.

I have spoken about  divine contentment previously and this is a sequel to that topic, you can find the first one here.                                         https://theplaceofpraise.com/divine-contentment/ . Then, I urged us to seek the Kingdom of God before all else, this time I will be addressing material wealth and comparison.

“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 a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.”

I Timothy‬ 6:6-11‬ NKJV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

“Godliness and contentment is great gain”, is one of the first memory verses I learnt as a child, and from then till now, it has a permanent spot in my heart. The above verses say we will find contentment from being godly and if we have food and clothing, that’s  enough for us, we should flee greed and pursue, righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness – it’s that’s simple.

Money and Material Possessions.

We live in a consumption driven world where every corner is telling us we need more, more and more. According to research the average westerner is exposed to over 4000 adverts per day, and each of these adverts is fighting for our attention, telling us “if you had this or that your life will finally be complete” , but the truth is ,that “finally” never comes. That satisfaction does not exist, the Bible says;

“Hell and Destruction are never full; So the eyes of man are never satisfied.” Proverbs‬ 27:20‬ NKJV‬‬

The use of the word ‘never’ implies that it will not happen, the eyes will continue to want more and it can never have enough. So I encourage us to  not try to satisfy the eyes.

Money is by no means a bad thing, it can do so much good and it can equally do so much bad. Above, we are told that the love of money (not money itself ) is the root of all evil. There is nothing wrong with wanting material success or wealth , but when it raises itself as an idol in our life, as an idol before God there  is a problem, because we cannot take material wealth beyond earth.  The Message version puts it like this: “we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that’s enough.” 1 Timothy 6: 7-8 (MSG) It is essential to check our motive behind our drive for success.

Paul finally tells us in verse 11, “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.” This is the way we can find contentment, we need to focus on the things above, but it takes the intentional conditioning of the mind.

Discontentment and Comparison.

Many people for varying reasons have fallen into the trap of comparison, with the rise of social media and the like it is very easy to fall into the trap. We could compare our lives, our achievements, our jobs and even our walk with God to that of others. This is often an overlooked area of discontentment, because people actually think they have to compare themselves to others, we have to be the ______est, the wealthiest, the smartest and on and on, because it boosts our ego. There is room for what we call “healthy competition”, but when competition becomes obsessive and the only way to examine our lives and achievements then there’s a problem. It will sow seeds of envy and jealousy then eventually lead to covetousness or even lust. Then there will also be instances of wanting to question God, wanting to ask “oh why is my life not this way” , “why do I not have this and that”.

There is no formula that says we need to be at a certain stage at a particular  time, let us not allow ourselves to fall into the trap of comparison. Is it social media?, log off, is it your circle of friends?, take some time for yourself. Most importantly don’t allow anyone to lead you into comparing your life with others. Everything we have is everything we need.

Don’t worry for God said “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah‬ 29:11‬ NKJV‬‬

Contentment is not complacency.

Contentment is not a call for us to be complacent , complacency means satisfaction from not trying hard enough. We are definitely not called to be complacent, as Christians we are called to live life to the full, this can only be achieved through Jesus. So go ahead achieve, have a healthy drive for hard work and success but do not let it become an idol.

Only Jesus can give us satisfaction and divine contentment. Let us look to Him.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.” Psalm 23:1 NLT 

IfeOluwa Jaiyesimi ©

The Revolutionary Righter ©