Rich

6 min read

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

— 1 Timothy 6:6-10

Many might read this with bewilderment and think, “Who then can be saved?” That is what the disciples asked Jesus when He said that it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 19:24-25). And Jesus’s response to them was, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

We are also reminded of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says that we are not to worry about food or clothes, because God will provide those needs for us. Also, the idea of people living “under their own vine and under their own fig tree” (Micah 4:4) suggests that the blessings of the kingdom of God include home ownership.

But some people will read verses like the above and Jesus’s teaching about wealth with bewilderment because they love money. For them, wealth, in and of itself, is one of the main goals in their lives.

I know people like that. Some of them, because of their love of money, have been pierced with many griefs, and it’s exactly because of teachings like this that they refuse to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ.

On the other hand, “godliness with contentment is great gain” (verse 6). Reflecting on my own life and the things I have seen and experienced, that verse just might be the key to a happy life, second only to “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).

But because of our sinful hearts, we immediately focus on the “great gain.” That is what we want.

What God wants is that we focus on “godliness with contentment,” and He will take care of the “great gain.” But if the “great gain” that God gives to us is not to our liking and does not satisfy, well, that just proves that our focus is not on “godliness with contentment” but rather on the “great gain.”

Seeking “great gain” is painful without learning “contentment.” And “contentment” becomes idolatry without “godliness.”

But “godliness with contentment is great gain,” because it is the key to happiness in the kingdom of God.

Father, from You, every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of Your glorious riches, He may strengthen us with power through the Holy Spirit in our inner being, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. And being rooted and established in love, I pray that we will have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ—and that we would know His love that surpasses knowledge. Fill us to the measure with all of Your fullness. In Jesus’s name. Amen.