Day 2633 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.
1 Timothy 6:6 NIV
We've been discussing this human desire to desire. It seems like our hearts are always on the hunt for something that we can bring into our lives. We think that if we can stack it up around us that hopefully it will bring us some happiness and sense of success in the process. But the problem is that looking in so many places is going to use up a whole lot of time. And when you consider that we tend to look in worldly places and to earthly things to find our inner happiness, well, we're going to be left with nothing but a lot of disappointment.
That's one of the biggest things that I've been thinking about and trying to convey in these last few posts. This world doesn't have what we need. It can't offer us anything lasting because this world itself is not lasting. The Bible tells us quite plainly that this place and its ways are passing away. So when we build our lives in this place then we're building lives that simply won't last either. If we’re building out happiness on things that are passing away, then that happiness will be fleeting itself. But still, it's so easy to buy this idea that there's something to be found here because so many others are clearly living that way themselves.
But have you ever stopped to wonder why there's so much anger, discontent, and unrest in the world? So many people are looking in so many places for something that will make them happy, but they're clearly not finding anything that does the job. So do we really think that we'll somehow manage to find happiness or peace or this sense of fulfillment when millions of people have already combed through every nook and cranny of the globe and come up empty-handed?
Maybe we should give up the hassle and look outside the confines of a world that's built on materialism and settling for second-best. Maybe we should listen to the calling of the cross and stop trying to find our peace and joy anywhere other than the gift of Christ. Maybe we allow should ourselves to realize that all these years we've spent chasing a ghost in this world have truly been wasted and turn our attention to something that has an eternal promise.
The fact that so many seem to ignore or choose to ignore is that this verse is the key to the gain and success and fulfillment that we're all looking for in life. All the joy and peace and success and happiness and every other good thing we've spent so long searching for are only found in God and a life committed to growing in Him. That truly is enough. Letting go of the worldly desires so that we take hold of God's eternal hope is enough. We can look forever and never find anything down here that can compete with that!
A life focused on humbly growing in Christ is a life that will lead us to more happiness, more peace, more joy, more gain than we could ever imagine. And that's because it's only when we let go of the world around us that we can finally see that Jesus has always been enough. It's only when all these other things are allowed to fade from our minds that we can finally understand that His gift of salvation is the greatest thing we could ever hope to find. And we don't even have to spend years looking for it.
It's freely given!
Folks, godliness with contentment is the greatest gain there is because devoting our lives to following Christ will help us see that we’ve already gained everything we could have ever possibly hoped to find. A life given over to the Lord and spent serving His purpose rather than our desires is the only true way to find a life of lasting joy. Because it leads to more than something that fades. Following Christ leads us to more than a life filled with excess yet lacking purpose. Focusing on growing our faith is one of the surest ways to build something that lasts, and not just for a year or two, but for all eternity.
Trying to find some way of gaining something with meaning and purpose in a world completely void of either is a losing fight. No matter how long or how far or how hard we try, we just can’t find what this place doesn’t have. I understand that each of us have holes. We have made mistakes that have stolen and broken and scarred parts of us that have in turn left us reeling in this search for something whole that we can rely on to sure us back up and give us hope in something other than more disappointment.
Christ is that hope. He is that whole. He is the lasting promise of eternal hope and lasting joy and unending peace that millions have sought in a world that only knows how to offer broken promises and hollow possessions. The bottom line is that we have nothing to gain in this place, but in Christ we have nothing to lose. In Him and in Him alone will we ever find all that we’ve sought to gain in our lives. Because in Him alone is the reminder that all the worldly wealth cannot buy happiness. Gaining true happiness comes only from a heart surrendered to the very definition of hope, love, and peace.
Please stop trying to gain something in this world. Stop thinking that earthly gain will make you feel better. It can’t. Because it can’t give us what God already has, so why keep looking when His gift, His promise, His eternal gain is right there for the taking?
Guess what I’m trying to say is that when we learn to be content with who God made us, what He’s doing in our lives, and the desire to grow our relationship with Him, then we’ll finally see that there is nothing else to gain. And that’s because there is nothing lacking in Him, and there is nothing better than Him. Give Him the chance to show you that this verse is true. Focus on Him for a bit and devote yourself to putting your relationship with Him first. Do that, and I promise you’ll not have to look for anything else ever again!
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