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- Apr 25, 2006
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THE SECRET OF SATISFACTION
‘…I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.’
PHILIPPIANS 4:11
If money guaranteed happiness, wouldn’t the rich be happier than everybody else? Studies show that often they’re not. Happy people don’t follow money, they follow their God-given passion. In ‘What Happy People Know’, Dr. Dan Baker writes: ‘The man in front of me seemed to have it all: money, freedom, friends and family. But he didn’t have the one thing he wanted most—happiness. His home life would horrify most people—alienated kids, a wife who resented his obsession with work, no time to kick back.’
What was this man’s biggest concern? Keeping what he had! Maybe you’re reading this, thinking, ‘Yeah, but that doesn’t apply to me. In his situation I know I could be happy!’ No, money can’t buy happiness; regardless of how much you have, it’s never enough.
Fear will always whisper, ‘Unless you get more you won’t be secure.’ So what’s the secret of happiness? Paul writes: ‘For I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength’ (vv. 11-13 NLT).
When you pursue God’s purpose for your life, money is secondary. Your real status symbols are salvation, spiritual growth, a secure home, special friends, and the satisfaction of doing what God called you to do. Watchman Nee said, ‘I have never met a soul who has set out to satisfy the Lord, and has not been satisfied himself.’
written by Bob Gass
‘…I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.’
PHILIPPIANS 4:11
If money guaranteed happiness, wouldn’t the rich be happier than everybody else? Studies show that often they’re not. Happy people don’t follow money, they follow their God-given passion. In ‘What Happy People Know’, Dr. Dan Baker writes: ‘The man in front of me seemed to have it all: money, freedom, friends and family. But he didn’t have the one thing he wanted most—happiness. His home life would horrify most people—alienated kids, a wife who resented his obsession with work, no time to kick back.’
What was this man’s biggest concern? Keeping what he had! Maybe you’re reading this, thinking, ‘Yeah, but that doesn’t apply to me. In his situation I know I could be happy!’ No, money can’t buy happiness; regardless of how much you have, it’s never enough.
Fear will always whisper, ‘Unless you get more you won’t be secure.’ So what’s the secret of happiness? Paul writes: ‘For I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength’ (vv. 11-13 NLT).
When you pursue God’s purpose for your life, money is secondary. Your real status symbols are salvation, spiritual growth, a secure home, special friends, and the satisfaction of doing what God called you to do. Watchman Nee said, ‘I have never met a soul who has set out to satisfy the Lord, and has not been satisfied himself.’
written by Bob Gass
