“Yet true godliness and contentment is itself great wealth...So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. But people who long...fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction...And some people...have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows” 1 Timothy 6:6-10.
Boy do I know this one! There was a season in my life when I could not get enough, shop enough, wear enough, hide enough...I lived my life in secret as I hid receipts, grabbed the mail, stuffed shopping bags in the back of my closet and other destructive activities. This passage jumped from the page to my behavior and almost ruined my marriage, not to mention my spiritual health.
Why is contentment so hard to attain? Why can’t we just be satisfied with what we have? I would love to say that I have mastered this sin (which is what it is) but it still creeps into my heart occasionally. Even this past October I allowed it to master over me again when searching for a mother-of-the-bride dress. Thankfully, my husband was well aware of it all and it wasn’t done in secret this time. This pursuit became such an obsession that I’m embarrassed to even remember it. I recall finally thinking that if I searched for Jesus as much as I had searched for that perfect outfit my faith would be 3 levels higher! But thankfully, the Lord convicted me of misguided pursuits, empty purchases and the sin in which it was shrouded.
We must remember this essential truth in every destructive behavior we possess: It takes the hand of God to set us free but it takes our daily fellowship with God to keep us free.
No comments:
Post a Comment