Summer days often stimulate the thoughts that the “living should be easy!” The days are long, the weather is warm, and thoughts of vacation days permeate our minds. While all of these attributes of summer are true, the one thing that should be strengthened in the summer is our spiritual life. Summer is the time for us to build a “spiritual bank account” so that when the challenging days of the fall descend we have spiritual stamina. It is easy, however, to allow our summer spiritual life to slow down and even become inactive.
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SUMMER 2016--CONTENT OR DISCONTENT?
Developing a heart of contentment can be challenging even in the midst of the summer season when the living is supposed to be "easy”. Contentment is defined as “having an ease of mind or satisfaction.”[ Contentment, from a biblical perspective, is much more than mere satisfaction with life. For the Christian woman the dictionary definition of contentment merely reflects the outward manifestations of an individual’s deep, inner convictions. Drawn from the Greek word arkeo, contentment primarily signifies sufficiency or satisfaction. Scripture teaches that godliness with contentment is great gain (Ps. 37:16; 1 Tim. 6:6), God’s promises should lead to contentment (Heb. 13:5), and those who seek contentment from money are never satisfied (Eccles. 5:10). Believers are instructed to exhibit contentment in their callings (1 Cor. 7:20), with their wages (Luke 3:14), with their possessions (Heb. 13:5), and with the food and raiment one has (1 Tim. 6:8). Would you like to reflect back on this summer as one that reflects that application of 1 Timothy 6:6 which teaches that “there is great gain in godliness with contentment”? Perhaps the following strategies will assist in fulfilling that desire.
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