The Poverty of Discontentment by D. James Kennedy

Today’s devotional reading for: TUESDAY, JUL 26, 2016

The Poverty of Discontentment

But godliness with contentment is great gain. —1 Timothy 6:6 Devotion: Unless the discontented person learns the secret of contentment, he is never going to be happy, because he is never going to get enough. Whenever he gets one thing, the devil is going to let him know there is something else—a newer car, a bigger house, a boat—that is going to make him happy. But he never will be happy. I remember reading about a man who was very, very rich. I think he had about $900 million dollars, an extraordinary amount of money at that time. A TV interviewer asked him, “Are you satisfied, contented, with what you have?” “Well, not yet.” “How much would it take for you to be content?” “Just a little more.” Do you see the truth in that? If you are discontented, then even if you had $10 billion, you would still need “just a little more” to be satisfied. Ben Franklin said, “Who is rich? He that rejoices in his Portion . . . . Content[ment] makes poor men rich; Discontent[ment] makes rich Men poor.” Not only is there a great sorrow involved in discontentment, but we also need to realize the sin of discontentment. Discontentment leads to grumbling, complaining, and unhappiness. To be content in such a discontented culture is to shine for God, because little is much when God is in it. Question to ponder: Have you noticed how thankfulness and trust drive away discontentment?