Godly Contentment vs Worldly Desires
As I was growing up I had aspirations of being looked up to. I have always wanted to be independent dependent on no-one. Contentment has always been my strength. I refused to be affected by my friends’ achievements. Then I started being serious about going to church and was baptised as a Christadelphian after having previously attended other churches in search of the truth.
We prayed as a family and read our Bibles as a family, but there was one question that began to gnaw in my head: Why does God seem to bless those that do not worship him? We looked at the rich and famous and thought they had everything going for them, yet we pray and sometimes fail to get what we ask for. This almost pulled us down although we never backtracked. The Bible then provided an answer to our anxiety as we read through the book of Job, the words of Job in chapter 34 and some verses in chapter 36. “Is He not the one who says to kings, ‘You are worthless’ and to nobles, ‘You are wicked’, who shows no partiality to princes and does not favour the rich over the poor, for they are all the work of his hands?” (34:18). “They die in an instant, in the middle of the night; the people are shaken and they pass away; the mighty are removed without human hand”.
They die, leaving their billions to be taken and used by those that they have shunned and looked down upon. The Bible says, “Naked a man came from his mother’s womb, and naked man shall return to the dust from whence he came.”
Poor I thought we were, but this was completely changed by the words from the book of life: “Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Luke 6:20). Those that hunger now will be satiated: those that weep will laugh. BUT – “Woe to you who are rich for you have already received your comfort.”
These verses were answers to the question previously stated, a source of renewed strength and assurance. Now to the righteous he says: “If they obey and serve him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment” (Job 36:11 NIV). We are further warned in verses 18 and 19, “Be careful that no-one entices you by riches; do not let a large bribe turn you aside. Would your wealth or even all your mighty efforts sustain you so you would not be in distress? If you think like me along Bible lines, then we would agree that blissful lives are but like the fog of the morning which disappears suddenly. So we should not conform to worldly desires but toil in the Lord’s vineyard so as to inherit eternal life and the never ending bliss that will result from living a life worthy of the calling of Christ.
Bro Itai Tembo (Sanyati, Zimbabwe)
