Godliness with Contentment

Let as many bondservants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed. And those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them because those who are benefited are believers and beloved. Teach and exhort these things. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 

1 Timothy 6:1-10

Godliness without contentment becomes selfish.

When you are content, you will not despise your Master. When you keep in mind that you brought nothing into the world, you will be grateful for whatever you have and content. Your contentment will lead you to serving others and seeking to be a blessing to them as God has blessed you. Godliness without contentment becomes self-focused on “how Godly I can become.” Godliness with contentment recognizes that Godliness isn’t about you, but about others. You brought nothing into the world—God gave everything you have  to you—so everything you have should be used to bless others. Your Godliness should bless God and other people as you are content with the Godliness God has given you.

Contentment without Godliness is loss. 

Contentment enables you to move beyond yourself and become a blessing to others. If you are able to bless others and win over kings as friends but lose your own soul, your life will have been meaningless (Mark 8:36). Your life began as a vapor and your life will end as a vapor. You fall like a drop from the watering can and you either nourish the environment around you, as you were created to do, or fade away in the sun without any impact. Either way, if you don’t point back to the bottomless watering can that gave you flight into your environment, you have done little to help your environment. God as His watering can never run out of water, you have to direct the attention of your environment back to God and His can for you to have any real benefit to your environment.

Your relationship with others is a reflection of the relationship you have with yourself. 

Your contentment with yourself and who God made you to be will be reflected in your relationship with others. A drop of water must be water before it can wet anything around it. The more like water the drop of water becomes, the better it will impact its environment in the way it was created to do. The less like water it is, the more there will be disruptions in its relationships. You are a drop of water, remain content in who God made you to be by nourishing those around you. And remain Godly, for if God is like water, you are like a drop are to model His nature to the world around you.