We’re a few days away from Thanksgiving. Perhaps the turkey is in your freezer, and your pantry is stocked with ingredients for all the trimmings. Travel plans are being finalized, and some are already on their way. And while we prepare, we keep a keen eye on all the tantalizing deals offered by retail stores the day after. Christmas is, after all, just around the corner. We go from being thankful for what we have to wanting more.
For many, this is a hard season. Some have no one to celebrate it with. Others are too poor to buy turkeys and Christmas presents. For a few, the holidays are associated with pain because a personal tragedy happened during the season.
Our kitchen in Kenya is already abuzz with activity. We are treating a Kenyan family to an American Thanksgiving, and the expectations are high. It turns out that things like cranberry sauce, stuffing, and apple pie are not readily available, so we’re making everything from scratch. Sometimes, a simpler life means hard work…
While contemplating these things, I came across this verse in 1 Timothy 6:
But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and[ we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. (vs. 6-8)
This is timely, indeed. We’ve faced the removal of creature comforts we had grown accustomed to in the United States, like a dishwasher, a clothes dryer, a car, hot water in all the sinks, (somewhat) orderly customer service, and much more.
Most Kenyans live without any of these, and many have no running water, electricity, or a gas stove to cook on. Yet, you’ve never seen happier people.
It goes to show that contentment is relative. Surveys have shown that people of every income level, including millionaires, said they’d be happier if they had more money. Yet data shows that even at $25,000 a year, which is below the U.S. federal poverty level, one belongs to the wealthiest 1% of the world!
So, where does contentment come from? Clearly not from a standard of living one is accustomed to, because that can disappear in an instant. Just ask the people whose homes and towns were wiped away by hurricanes and tornadoes.
Paul seems to imply that it comes from godliness, which is the opposite of worldliness. Worldliness makes you want more and leaves you discontented no matter how much you have. Godliness is a condition of the heart whereby you look upward and see God as your provider. Not only that, but godly contentment comes from valuing His presence and grace in our lives above earthly goods. When your satisfaction comes from knowing God, having basic needs like food and clothing is enough.
When your heart is full of adoration and delight in God, your emotional attachment to earthly goods fades into the background. Then it doesn’t matter anymore whether we sit in a mansion and wear finery or in a hut and wear hand-me-downs from Goodwill – as long as God is there with us.
We are constantly reminded of this when we interact with our Kenyan brothers and sisters. Some walk two hours to church and two hours back and own only one set of nice clothes. Yet their worship is contagiously jubilant, and church lasts for hours because they love God above all else and can’t think of anything they’d rather do than worship Him together. We’ve heard the story of a pastor who walks two days to go to his church, does all his ministry work over the weekend, walks two days back, and starts all over again a day later. He’s done that for years without complaint. Some of the students here at Divine Providence Training Center come from remote regions and travel for days on trucks, motorcycles, and buses to get here. They gladly do it to receive training for their ministry and are some of the hungriest learners we have met.
My hope and prayer for you, and us included, is that you practice godly contentment this holiday season. It promises great gain because it lifts you out of dependence on living standards, creature comforts, and changing circumstances into finding contentment in God Himself.
When that happens, you’ll be the richest person on earth, and nothing can destroy your happiness. Now that’s something to be thankful for!