Our Shoes

When you walk into a room, people ought to feel God's presence coming in with you.


Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:5

Transcript

Alright, thank you very much. And hello again, radio friends. How in the world are you? Doing alright today? Oh, I’m fine, thank you. Happy in the Lord and feeling great. Hallelujah. Why, we want to go on, if we may, to discuss something about first Timothy 6:6, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. Godliness is profitable unto all,” it says in another passage. And here, he says, “Godliness with contentment.” Contentment. “I have learned in whatsoever state I am,” said Paul in Philippians four, “Therewith, to be content.”

How do you define contentment? Well, it isn’t just lying there like a clam on God’s beach, waiting for the tide to roll in. Contentment is not apathy and contentment is not fatalism. Que sera sera, whatever is, will be, will be. No, contentment is not fatalism, it’s not apathy, it’s not lethargy, it’s not indifference. Contentment, well, it means take everything you get, as from God. Take everything you get, as from God. Two, use everything you have for God. Three, attempt everything that you do with God. “I can do all things through Christ, who strengtheneth me,” says Paul.

Take everything you get, as from God. Do everything you do for God. Attempt all your achievements with God, you’ll be content. Now, he says, “Godliness with contentment.” What is godliness? Godliness, as I’ve said to you different times, is the quality, the Presence of God in ordinary living. Godly when you first wake up in the morning, greeting your loving Heavenly Father in prayer. Godly as you meet the family around the breakfast table. The Presence of God should be real, even in those hurried moments. Godly when there’s a point of disagreement between parents and children, or children and children, or between husband and wife, and the Presence of God needs to be real in all of that.

Oh, a small thought here. Don’t use prayer as a way of ducking. I’ve been in many a deacon’s meeting, where people were faced with a problem and they said, “Well, let’s just have a word of prayer and trust the Lord to work it out.” And they would pray, and go away from the problem. [chuckle] They used prayer as a way of ducking, not really facing up to the problem. Don’t do that.

And parents, of course, you ought not to use prayer as a way of shutting up the small fry. You were having a discussion about who can use the car, or whatever it may be, and you say, “Well, we’ll have prayer.” And you pray, and nobody feels like saying anything after that, and you sort of won the battle by default. I don’t mean that. Godliness is not using religion as a lever. That just makes people resent you. Don’t use religion, and prayer, and devotions, and all of that as a leverage. Rather, it’s the unspoken Presence of God in and through you. Let me say it this way- when you walk into a room, people ought to feel God’s Presence coming in.

Now, I know that’s a big order. No doubt about that, but still, that’s where it’s at. God said, “I will dwell in them and walk in them.” It’s over in second Corinthians six-look it up for yourself. “I’ll dwell in them and walk in them.” So that when you walk into a room, or into a situation, or into a conversation, or into a phone call, whatever, people are going to feel the Presence of God.

Oh, it’s a big order. Yes. But is it possible? Oh, yes! Why? Because the Holy Spirit of God dwells within the believer. “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own, for you’re bought with a price? Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, both of which belong to God.”

Yes! People can feel God’s Presence. Why? Because when you’re yielded to God’s Holy Spirit, “He’s living, and working, and speaking through you,” Jesus said. “It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh through you.” Can you trust God to fulfill that promise in your life? Yes, indeed you may. It is perfectly possible for you to be the mouthpiece of God in any given situation. Godliness. Godliness. The Presence of God in your life, in your speech, in your lifestyle, in your decisions, in your attitudes, as living proof that Jesus is real, and that the Holy Spirit of God is dwelling in your life, God is walking in your shoes. Godliness.

Now, he says, “Godliness with contentment.” The attitude that takes everything it gets from God, and uses everything it has for God, and achieves everything that it can achieve with God. “Laborest together with God,” says Paul. That combination is invincible, it’s great gain, always. See? The measurement of you’re effectiveness is not how you feel. The measurement of your effectiveness is not how you feel, are you happy about it? The measurement of your effectiveness is, is the other person’s life enriched by it? “Gain,” he says, “Gain.” Is your life enriched by it and is the other person’s life enriched by it? Godliness, the Presence of God in your life with contentment. “The commitment to God’s Will and God’s power through your life,” he says, “That equals enrichment.”

Now, ask yourself this question then, as you go on through the day, this day or any day. “Is there any enrichment in other people’s lives, or even in my own, because of what God is doing through me?” There’s the question to ask. “Is the situation bettered? Is my own life enriched? Is my relationship made more blessed with other people? Are their lives enriched in God, because I came along?” See, these are the things that constitute the measuring devices for your spiritual achievement. Gain.

Now, he goes on to argue the point in verse seven, he said, “We brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” I never saw a U-Haul trailer behind a hearse yet, did you? They used to, in olden times, they used to bury riches, and possessions, and even food supplies with famous people, to help them on their journey into another world, but centuries later, when those tombs are unearthed, all those things are still there untouched. We can carry nothing out. He says, “Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content.” The essence of contentment is not things. It’s your attitude about what’s happening with you and through you that counts. The essence of contentment is not things, having things. The essence of contentment is being aware that God is doing something through you, regardless of the circumstances, whether you have much or little.

Paul said, “I know how to abound and I know how to be abased.” He said, “I’ve had enough to do with and I’ve also been in situations when I was broke.” He said, “I can do all things through Christ. I’ve learned to be content.” Contentment uses and rejoices in the work of God in your life, regardless of things around you. He says, “Godliness with contentment.”

Now, how does that apply to you, beloved? Think about you and your job. Oftentimes, I run into people, who are just chronically upset with the work they have to do. “I gotta get up and go to work tomorrow, boy, do I hate that.” And they’ll tell you how their boss is unreasonable, how their co-workers are constantly badgering them, and criticizing them, because they are Christian, and all the different things. “Oh, it’s terrible.”

Well, the Bible says, “Commit thy work unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established.” Start praying about your job, in terms of asking God to enrich other people’s lives through you. Start praying about your job, in terms of asking God to enrich other people’s lives through you, and then all through the day, be watching for ways where you can be helpful. And where, without seeming to do so, you can shine for the Lord Jesus. You don’t have to preach sermons. You don’t have to be an officially pious person. Anybody who’s trying to look pious ends up looking bilious and ridiculous. Don’t do it. Just shine for the Lord Jesus and where you see there’s a need, help to fill it, without making a federal case of it. Where there’s a burden, help to lift it, without saying anything about it, or expecting to be thanked. Oh, to have the Presence of God in your daily life, pray about your job. God will establish your thoughts, and as He does so, you will find yourself content.

Not satisfied, maybe. You certainly could appreciate a raise, if it came your way, you’d like to get promoted, yes, you’d like, maybe to be transferred into a better department. Not necessarily satisfied, but content, because God is working in you to will and to do of His good pleasure, you see the difference? Godliness with contentment, great gain. Think in terms of, whether or not God is enriching your life and other people’s lives, as you live for Him.

Father God, today, may our lives be the source of enrichment and blessing to others around us, through Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!



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