1 Timothy 6:6-14

Rachel Workman: 6 Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. 7 After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. 8 So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. No better words have been spoken. We live in a world of uncontentment. My marriage isn't good. I'm not content I'll do something different. This is better than what I have. I'm not content I need that now. The list goes on and on. We are the most wealthy least content nation there is.

9 But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. I'm not against money. I respect it, I need it to live but Satan uses money a lot to draw people away from God. I am grateful for what I have and I would be wise to be content. In nature we are greedy people and Satan taps into our human weaknesses. And money is certainly one of them.

11 But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses. 13 And I charge you before God, who gives life to all, and before Christ Jesus, who gave a good testimony before Pontius Pilate, 14 that you obey this command without wavering. Then no one can find fault with you from now until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

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Krista Cook: What great words about living a life of contentment!  We see so many struggling to live a righteous life due to discontentment - always wanting more!

If we have God, we have all we need!

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Mike Grimm: 6 Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. This statement says it all when it comes to spiritual growth and personal fulfillment. In order to be a truly wealthy Christian we need to honor God and focus our desires on Him, and we should be content with what God is doing in our lives. However, we must recognize the difference between what God is really doing in our lives and what we think that God is doing in our lives. It would be so easy for me to just sit on my couch watching football and say that this is what God wants me to do. Yes he wants me to watch some, otherwise why would he have created it? But He doesn’t want my life to revolve around it and He certainly doesn’t want me to miss an opportunity to serve Him because I was wrapped up in TV. 7 After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. 8 So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. To quote Wayne Watson’s song “The Fine Line”, based on Ephesians 5:15, 1 John 2:6, and Philippians 4:11-12;

There's a fine line
between contentment and greed
between the things that I want
and the things that I need
between "enough is enough"
and where desires feed
it's a fine line

We need to constantly be able to distinguish between our wants and our needs. Although we may have everything that we need to live we often let ourselves become anxious and discontented over what WE really want. Paul was perfectly content with what he had and not with all the things that he may have wanted. In the last reading we discussed slaves. So many of us have become slaves to our material desires, even to the point of judging others for what they have or don’t have. Wealth and material things, in themselves, are not bad things and we should own nice things. I like when good people are able to buy that larger home or new car. I’m happy for them. But when we start focusing on only wanting the best or one-upping those around us, this is where God is not pleased. When we work 70-80 hours a week, ignoring our families in order for that prize we think we deserve, I don’t think God is impressed at all.


9 But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. Many of us fall into this “ruin and destruction” simply by using the credit cards that are basically given to us by the credit card companies. 10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. I have to believe that greed accounts for most of the evil in the world today. And at the top are CEO’s and board of directors. How many Americans have been forced from their jobs due to outsourcing? Their lives were ruined because some board thought about that almighty dollar instead of the people who kept that company going up to this point. The few that make these decisions don’t care about the quality of their product or their workers. It’s all about the $$$$. Insurance companies deny coverage and claims due to $$$$. Airlines charge you for a few inches of space in the name of $$$$. Politicians make their votes based on what Special Interest group gives them the most $$$$. After all, they have jobs and don’t have Obamacare. Sad. But this happens in our lives as well. We give what we feel is just to our church but have 8000 channels of cable TV. We breakdown and give a few bucks to a food bank during the holidays but suck down that $12 Starbucks every morning. I’m guilty as well. I love my Diet Mountain Dew and MIO water flavoring. Do I need it? Sorry, got off track…again. But anyways, before we can master greed, we must be able to control it at its very root. We must get rid of that desire to be rich or to have the best of everything. When all is said and done; it’s all staying here when we leave, and in a lot of circumstances it will become the center of focus for our survivors to fight over.

11 But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses. Paul shows us in verses 11 and 12, that Christianity is an active religion as evident by his active and forceful verbs to describe the Christian life: run, pursue, fight and hold tightly. Some think that Christianity is a passive religion that advocates waiting for God to act. But we have an active faith, obeying God with courage and doing what we know is right. We need to take action and stop waiting for God to light the fire. 13 And I charge you before God, who gives life to all, and before Christ Jesus, who gave a good testimony before Pontius Pilate, 14 that you obey this command without wavering. Then no one can find fault with you from now until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. Paul concludes with a charge to Timothy to obey6 “this command,” referring to the commands Christ has given to His church, or perhaps to Timothy’s promise to serve Christ. Timothy’s own confession of faith is compared with Christ’s before Pilate.