“The Key to Contentment” FBC Morning Light (10/31/2023)

Well, a good

Tuesday morning to you. Today in our Bible reading, we're in Ezekiel 5 -6, and the last chapter of the book of Hebrews.

So on this last day of October, finishing up the 10th month of the year, we're also finishing up the book of Hebrews today.

And this is the passage I want to focus on, actually just really one verse in Hebrews chapter 13, and it's verse 5, where the writer says, let your conduct be without covetousness, be content with such things as you have.

Then he gives us a reason why we can be like that. But I want to zero in on that idea of covetousness. That does seem to be a bigger problem for even

Christians than maybe we want to admit. I say that because Jesus warned against it and the apostle

Paul in his letters warned against it, and he even went so far as to warn us that covetousness is a form of idolatry,

Colossians chapter 3 and verse 5. He tells us that. Don't be covetous, covetousness is idolatry, it's a form of idolatry.

If you think about it, you realize that it really is. We can covet all kinds of things.

We can covet things, we can covet stuff. I was going to say maybe we don't covet stuff as much as we might covet other things, but that may not necessarily be true.

We can come to church and we can see what somebody else drives into the parking lot, and we can covet a different vehicle.

We're driving this old thing and somebody comes in with a new car and we get a little covetous.

When it comes to stuff, we can covet things, but we can also covet experiences.

Think about if you're a social media person, think about the experiences you see others post about on Facebook or their

Instagram or whatever their social media site you happen to be on. You see them going to these wonderful places and having these wonderful experiences, and you can't do that kind of thing, or maybe you just can't afford it, just don't have the opportunity to do it.

It's easy to covet their experiences. It's also easy to covet positions.

I know a guy, for example, who is just past the 50 -year mark in his life, and he's been with a particular company for quite a long time, and at this stage in his life, he keeps getting passed over for promotions, and he says,

I know why. It's because I'm a 50 -year -old guy, and I'm a guy, and the color of my skin is keeping me from getting a position, getting a promotion.

It would be easy for, and he's understanding that, and he's accepting it, he's very gracious about it, but it would be easy in that kind of a situation to become covetous, to covet that promotion.

Look at our verse again, Hebrews 13 .5, the writer says, let your conduct, your way of life be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have.

Learn to be content. Paul said, I have learned in whatever state I am therewith to be content, and he talks about the virtue of contentment,

Paul does. Contentment is great gain. Godliness with contentment is great gain.

But here, the writer says, learn to be content with such things as you have. Be content with the position, be content with the possessions, be content with the experiences that you might be able to have, and then he goes on to explain why.

Why can we be content? Because, he says, the Lord himself has said,

I will never leave you nor forsake you, and we therefore may boldly say, the

Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man can do to me. I don't have to fear not getting the things that my heart might crave, and that I might make an idol.

I don't have to fear not getting those things. I don't have to fear not having those experiences.

I don't have to fear not getting that promotion. I don't have to fear not acquiring those goods, because the

Lord will not leave me or forsake me, and he will see to it that I have what

I need. He will. I need to learn to be content with what he provides.

May the Lord challenge us today and encourage us to know contentment, to have a contented heart.

By the way, contentment does not mean void of any godly ambition.

Contentment means to avoid any selfish ambition, stuff merely for self.

So, Father in Heaven, may we learn to be content, trusting in you to provide what we need, confident that you are ever with us, that you will never leave nor forsake your own.

We thank you for that promise. We thank you that you are our helper, and therefore, we do not need to fear, we do not need to covet.

Thank you for these promises today, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, well listen,

I hope you have a good rest of your Tuesday, and October wraps up well for you today. May the