Love Christ more and you will love money less. When you have less you will find yourself saying, “I am learning to be content. Christ is more to me than all the world.” When you have more you will say, “How can I use what I have to serve Christ? Because Christ is more to me than all the world.”

However much you have, there are others who have more. However little you have, there are others who have less. All of us have more than some other people. All of us have less than some other people.

However much or little God has trusted to you, there will be seasons of life when you have less and seasons of life when you have more. Let’s stand in both positions today and hear what God says to us when we have more and when we have less.

When You Have Less: Learn the Art of Contentment

Godliness with contentment is great gain. (1 Timothy 6:6)

Contentment is finding joy in what God has given to you. The opposite of contentment is greed. Contentment is a Christian grace that grows over time. It does not come quickly, easily, or naturally. Paul says “I have learned to be content” (Philippians 4:12).

How did he learn it? He tells us “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content” (Philippians 4:12).

God used the experience of loss to produce the good fruit of contentment in Paul’s life. Have you discovered the secret of being content?

Jeremiah Burroughs described contentment as “a rare jewel.”[1] How can you find joy in what God gives you, especially when it is less than you had before? Burroughs has great wisdom on how to obtain this jewel:

A Christian comes to contentment, not so much by way of addition as by way of subtraction…Contentment does not come by adding to what you have, but by subtracting from what you desire. The world says that you will find contentment when your possessions rise to meet the level of your desires… The Christian has another way to contentment, that is, he can bring his desires down to his possessions.[2]

So why is godliness with contentment “great gain”? Paul gives four reasons in 1 Timothy 6:

1. You cannot keep what you gain in this world (v7).
2. If you set your heart on money, you expose yourself to powerful temptations that ruin many people (v9).
3. You may wander from the faith (v10).

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