Grateful Contentment

Grateful Contentment

I Corinthians 7:17-24

–is one of the greatest enemies of gratitude.

–I Timothy 6:6, But godliness with contentment is great gain.

-As believers, God calls us to be content with that which He has provided and to trust Him for the next step as He sees fit to provide!

-We tend to suffer from the “Greener Grass Syndrome.” We often want something to make our current situation better and hardly are we satisfied with that which we already have!

I. Call to Contentment (1 Corinthians 7:17, 20, 24)

-In each of these 3 verses, Paul makes 2 distinct points:

1. God’s provision in/for our life is .

2. Our responsibility/privilege is to walk in that provision.

*We live in a constant state of discontentment because we are looking in the wrong place for happiness!

-Colossians 3:1-2,  If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

-Our ability to obey this call to contentment lies directly upon that which we look to as the of contentment!

II. Illustrations of Contentment (1 Corinthians 7:18-19, 21-22)

-What we are seeing here is a distraction of religious practices taking the place of what really mattered!

-May we never let these types of issues cloud or impede our efforts to point souls to Christ and help each other grow in Christ!

–leads to discontentment in the church and ultimately in our individual lives too!

*Don’t make changing your status in life your goal–make serving Christ whole-heartedly your fulfilling pursuit!

*Focusing on your love and service for Christ is the goal of every believer!

-Until your focus is fortified by contentment, gratitude will you!

III. Reason for Contentment (1 Corinthians 7:23)

-We are not our own to determine what we think is best for us!

-Ask Jonah how it turned out by to humbly submit to God’s plans.

-Ask Moses how jumping ahead of God turned out for him.

-Ask Judas Iscariot his thoughts about letting the love of money get in the way of what God was trying to do in his life.

-When we tie ourselves up with earthly pursuits and make ourselves subject only to man’s desires and plans, we cut ourselves too short of God’s perfect plan for our lives!

-Who’s “Well done” have you been looking for? –your own, someone else’s, or God’s?

*True contentment in this life will never come until you are looking for it in the right !