14 Then some soldiers asked him, ‘And what should we do?’
He replied, ‘Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely – BE CONTENT WITH YOUR PAY.’ Luke 3
John the Baptist’s preaching must have ‘carried quite a punch’, because even the tax collectors and soldiers were asking him what they should do. (Both groups would use their authority to extort people’s money.) It seems like everyone who heard him was brought under strong conviction TO REPENT. Of course John’s calling was to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord, Israel’s long awaited Messiah.
We don’t tend to think today that Contentment in our circumstances is anything important or meaningful, but the apostle Paul made a powerful statement in his first letter to his spiritual son and successor, Timothy;
GODLINESS WITH CONTENTMENT IS GREAT GAIN. 1 Timothy 6:6
6 [And it is, indeed, a source of immense profit, for] godliness accompanied with contentment (that contentment which is a sense of inward sufficiency) is great and abundant gain. 1 Timothy 6:6, Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
(ARKEO – The Greek verb to be Content, primarily signifies to be sufficient, to be possessed of SUFFICIENT STRENGTH, TO BE STRONG, TO BE ENOUGH FOR A THING!)
Two further scriptures in this context, one positive and the other negative.
5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and BE CONTENT with what you have, because God has said,
‘Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.’ (Deuteronomy 31:6)
6 So we say with confidence,
‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?’ (Psalms 118:6, 7) Hebrews 13
The writer of Hebrews reminds us that our trust must be in the Lord, ‘who gives generously to all without finding fault’.
9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. 10 So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. NOT SATISFIED (Or CONTENT) with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church. 3 John
This man Diotrophes had to be Number One, First in all things. He wouldn’t welcome John or the other brothers because they would threaten his status. Sadly there are many who still ‘love to be first’ and their own egos rob them of peace and contentment and endanger the unity of Christ’s Church.
Contentment with Godliness in our circumstances can once again open the way for a fresh encounter with the Lord. Hallelujah
May the Lord bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.