Life From A-Z in the Word Part 8 of 22

Psalm 119:57-64

Happy New Year everyone! What a great time of year. It’s like having a brand new beginning. It’s another opportunity to change, improve and learn from our mistakes over the past year.

Last week while I was preparing for this message on the keys to contentment, God taught me a lesson through this little light bulb. Are light bulbs important? One of the most important bulbs in your house is the hallway light. It keeps you from stubbing your foot in the middle of the night. Vernie would say that the most important light is the one in the refrigerator. That’s where this one is from.

A few weeks ago this light went out in the refrigerator and our house went into a panic. I went to a half a dozen places before I found a replacement for it. (Which is a story all its own). One of the places I went to was Best Buy where we bought the refrigerator. You’d think that they would have one, but they didn’t. Which gave me a reason to look at all the other stuff they sell, like digital cameras, DVD’s, computers and printers. As I walked around the store with this bulb in my pocket it saved me hundreds of dollars, because it reminded me of what I really needed. I wanted a digital camera and a new printer, which would have cost hundreds of dollars, but really all I needed was a little light bulb that cost $1.97.

Maybe you’ve experienced the same kind of thing. Anyone here ever go into a store to buy something and ended up buying a hundred dollars worth of stuff and then when you got home realized you didn’t even get what you went there to buy?

Read joke about discontentment.

How important is contentment? Look at what Solomon says about it.

(Everyone Read) Ecclesiastes 6:6, “Though a man lives a thousand years twice over but doesn't find contentment--well, what's the use?” (TLB)

You might have everything money could buy, but if you don’t have contentment, what’s the use?

Everyone lives in one of two tents: The CONtent or the DISCONtent.

Let me clarify a few things about these two tents. When it comes to our material possessions the Bible tells us that we should be content with what God allows us to have. But when it comes to our spiritual walk and relationship with God we ought to be discontent and want to grow and learn more and more. The problem is that most of us are the exact opposite. We’re content with our spiritual walk and relationship with God and discontent with our material possessions.

The question for you tonight is, “Which tent are you living in?”

So, what’s the secret to being content? David shares with us 5 things that will help us be more content.