Part 2
There is a lot of knowledge in the world today but we need WISDOM!
(Proverbs 4:7 TLB) Getting wisdom is the most important thing you can do! And with your wisdom, develop common sense and good judgment.
(Proverbs 19:23 NIV) The fear of the LORD leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble.
Never have we had more and enjoyed less!
With all of the technology and conveniences that we have today, we are more dissatisfied than ever.
Contentment – the ability to be happy wherever you are in life.
There is an archenemy to contentment – comparison!
Culture of Comparison
(Proverbs 14:30 NIV) A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
Envy – The feeling of discontentment with regard to someone else’s advantages, success, or possessions.
Three lies of comparison:
✓ It makes life about the wrong perspective.
Social media can feed comparison – See that boat, car, or house – #blessed
✓ It makes life about the wrong presumption.
“If I had want I don’t have, I would be happy.”
Marketing plays on this presumption.
✓ It makes life about the wrong person.
This gets us to focus on the “other people” and not who we have in our lives right now.
FOMO – Fear of Missing Out – new disorder – pervasive anxiety that our peers are doing more, know more, have more or something better than us.
The Secret of Contentment
(Ecclesiastes 4:6 NLT) And yet, “Better to have one handful with quietness than two handfuls with hard work and chasing the wind.”
(Philippians 4:11-13 NIV) (11) I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. (12) I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (13) I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
- Realize what we already have.
(Psalms 103:1-6 MSG) A David psalm. O my soul, bless GOD. From head to toe, I’ll bless his holy name! (2) O my soul, bless GOD, don’t forget a single blessing! (3) He forgives your sins–every one. He heals your diseases–every one. (4) He redeems you from hell–saves your life! He crowns you with love and mercy–a paradise crown. (5) He wraps you in goodness–beauty eternal. He renews your youth–you’re always young in his presence. (6) GOD makes everything come out right; he puts victims back on their feet.
Practical Application – If you need to, sit down and make a list of what you are already blessed with.
- Make God our source.
When you really think about it, it is not about the stuff, it is about some type of void or emptiness in our hearts. God is desiring to fill that void.
Let God fill those desires because what He will provide for us will be far better than what we can provide for ourselves.
(Psalms 84:11 NLT) For the LORD God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.
(Hebrews 13:5 NKJV) Let your conduct be without covetousness; (strong desire for material possessions) be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU.”
(1 Timothy 6:6 NLT) Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.
- Live life on mission.
(Philippians 3:12-14 NKJV) (12) Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. (13) Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, (14) I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
You don’t have time for comparison when you are living for something bigger – bigger picture.
A Little Bit of Wisdom #2:
Contentment fills me with life and protects me from circumstances.