Contentment With God's Abundance

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook; my comments below-

Michael Druckenmiller Sr.

1Ti 6:8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

You ask a hard thing, Lord!

There are so many "Gadgets" to "acquire"...

This verse is in the middle of...

1Ti 6:5 and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

Know any televangelists like that? Good Grief! Most of the "believers" I come into contact with have some form of an 'askewed' "Prosperity" as a *core* doctrine.

1Ti 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.

But, properity in this world's "gadgets" means nothing without Godliness, ie., God-like-ness. He has said that He is not willing that *any* should perish. Hmmmm. Am I? Are we showing God-Like-Ness towards those around us. Or, is it the "accutrements" of Godliness we are seeking.

1Ti 6:7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.

But, there is something we take with us... A heart toward God or a Heart toward the things of this world.

The rest of the passage is a bit scary for those of us with a "gadget" addiction that can only properly be whetted by wealth.

But, I have to ask myself... What or Who, am I really seeking...

My response:

That turns into a very interesting study.

vs 17 unlocks the door to understanding- "...God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment."

It's the thoughts and intents of the heart that need to be examined.

It started with the first commandment to have nothing before God. The tenth commandment is related in that desiring things can consume the thoughts and desires of the heart.

If you love God you will hate the lust for goods; if you desperately cling to money and desire more, you will despise God- Luke 16:13

Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them."   - Mark 7:15
He went on: "What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person's HEART, that evil THOUGHTS come--sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, GREED, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person."  - Mark 7:20-23

...who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 1 Timothy 6:17b

There is a false teaching/doctrine that christians HAVE to be poor. As I said, that is false.

Notice the abundance here-

Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: "Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your HEARTS hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?" "Twelve," they replied. "And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?" They answered, "Seven." He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"  - Mark 8:17-21

Jesus was trying to make them understand several things; after all, that topic started a few verses earlier with a warning about false teachings/doctrines...

Ponder the water into wine... that had nothing to do with necessity at all.... think about that....

This is old testament, but perfectly ontopic-

...no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless. Psalm 84:11

Jesus told us quite plainly-
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."  - Mark 12:30-31

Matthew 6:24-34 - towards the end - ...ALL these THINGS will be given to you...

So when God says He will give us EVERYTHING for our ENJOYMENT,  gadgets are included.

It's not the gadgets that will condemn you, it's their priority in your life. If it bothers you, repent, and then ask God to show you if there is an issue or not; "if any of you lacks wisdom... (James 1:5)

I just happened to be studying a similar line of thought in the scriptures when I saw this post. You helped me focus my studies... thanks.

Love you man....


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Created Questioning the Creator?

God also said, "Can the vessel ask the Potter?"

You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?" On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, Romans 9:19-23 NASB

"Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' or 'Your work has no handles'?...  Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him: "Ask me of things to come; will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands? I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. I have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level; he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward," says the LORD of hosts. Isaiah 45:9, 11-13 ESV

It is okay to ask God questions-

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. "Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? "Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! Matthew 7:7-11 NASB

And, if we don't understand, we can ask God-

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. James 1:5 NASB

God wants us to understand-

Wisdom is the main thing; get wisdom, and with all your getting, get understanding. Proverbs 4:7 LITV

There is a time we need to be quiet-

You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, "He did not make me"; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"? Isaiah 29:16 ESV

We can be asking too many questions and enter into insubordination-

For he says: "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures; like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones. My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples; and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved a wing or opened the mouth or chirped." Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood! Isaiah 10:13-15 ESV

We are the instruments of God; He is not our instrument.

We are proud, haughty, high-minded, judgmental, and out of line.

We keep asking questions because we want answers, but there comes a point where we need to shut our mouths and start doing something (not just "something", but specifically what God sends us to do!).

Check this out-

always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes's and Jambres's folly was also. 2 Timothy 3:7-9 NASB

"rejected in regard to the faith"???

Does that scare anybody?

Better is a dry morsel with quiet... Proverbs 17:1 ESV

Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind. Ecclesiastes 4:6 ESV

Here's the clincher-

therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant; and its breaking is like that of a potter's vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern." For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength." But you were unwilling, Isaiah 30:13-15 ESV

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