Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5, NIV)
“Thank God we don’t play this game for a living.”
I have played golf with a regular group on Saturday mornings for the past 15 years. We have seen pretty much every high and every low in each other’s game. And on the days when it’s most frustrating, being glad we don’t play for a living is a mild statement, because sometimes you’ll hear this: “I quit.” This is what happens when you feel like you’ve shot the worst round of your life!
The idea of quitting doesn’t just belong to us amateurs. I know readers of this devotion who will tell you they love the game and are fortunate to play it for a living, but who still have those days when they wonder if they should just hang it up. Maybe it’s easier to keep going when, with one hot streak, you can win a million dollars or more in a weekend. Where else do you get a chance like that?
But we all know money isn’t the only consideration in life. In this way, losses are a good reminder. When you put up money to play in a tournament, or spend a bunch on a new house only to see it consumed by fire, or get your priorities so out of whack that your work destroys your family—and I’ve seen all these happen, just as you probably have—you see so clearly the truth of Hebrews 13:5. Contentment is far superior to cash. Contentment reminds us that whether we win or we lose, God is there by our side; our satisfaction comes from him.
All the bull markets in the world can’t give you the great gain that comes from being content in the Lord!In his first letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul closed with some words about money and those who have it. This is where we read those famous words: “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Worse than the idea is the consequence: “Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 6:10).
To counter this sort of a “fall into temptation and a trap” (verse 9) Paul wrote about a big win. He told Timothy, “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (verse 6).
Maybe you can see the goodness in God’s promise to never leave us or forsake us a little better now. When we remember that we always have God, we are satisfied with his care. In fact, we can rejoice in it! And when we are rejoicing in God, we can’t help but be content. All the bull markets in the world can’t give you the great gain that comes from being content in the Lord!
When our Links Players staff gets together, we play our golf matches for frozen yogurt. The winners get as much as they want with all the toppings they want. That’s a really tasty prize. But you’ll never convince me it’s better than what God gives me when I am his. Yogurt is gone in a few minutes, but God is good all the time! Keep that in mind and you’ll never say, “I quit.”
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Dereck Wong
December 7, 2020
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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