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Key Bible Verses: Yet true religion with contentment is great wealth… . So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content (1 Timothy 6:6, 8). Bonus Reading:1 Timothy 6:6-10

I will never forget going on a short-term mission trip to a village of dirt-poor peasants in Mexico. The pastor of the church there lived in a tiny, one-room adobe house. Many of the men in his congregation had no jobs. The children—those who were dressed—were dressed in rags, and playing in bare feet. Believe it or not, their only toy was an old oil filter tied to a string!

When it was time for dinner, my hosts took the metal mesh seat from an old lawn chair they'd found in the dump, and placed it as a grill over the fire. Then they brought out the scrawniest chicken I've ever seen, and roasted it down to the size of a pigeon. When we were ready to eat, the pastor quieted everyone and began to pray, using these words, "O Lord, you have given us so much… ."

I about lost my appetite right there—and it wasn't because of the food! I was utterly stunned by the contentment in this man's life. I thought, "Given you so much? You've got to be kidding! How can you say that?"

Then the Lord said to me, "Howie, it's all a matter of perspective." A person of mature faith is content with what God gives him.

—Howard Hendricks in Standing Together

My Response: How would my faith rate measured on the contentment scale?

Thought to Apply: Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.

—Benjamin Franklin

Adapted from Standing Together (Vision, 1995) by permission.

Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Lord, teach me to get along happily with whatever You wisely and graciously choose for me.

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