Ten Commandments: Find Contentment – Exodus 20:1-17

Ten Commandments: Find Contentment – Exodus 20:1-17

HOW TO FIND CONTENTMENT – EXODUS 20:17

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 “The problem with getting everything” he says, “is you run out of reasons to keep trying. I have never felt more isolated than when I was partying with friends and famous people in Ibiza.” (Markus Persson)

 ““You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.” Exodus 20v17.

 1) Thou Shalt Not Covet

To covet is “to desire with the intent to own something that can never be rightfully yours.”

 

(i) Coveting makes you worry

“Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”  (Luke 12 v15)

 

 

(ii) Materialism tires you out

“Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint” (Proverbs 23v4)

 

 

(iii) Materialism depresses us

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”.  (1Tim.6:10)

 

 

(iv) Coveting tempts us to do wrong

 

 

2) How do we find contentment?

(i) Be Grateful For What We Already Have

“Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. (1Tim.6:6-8)

 

(ii) Recognise the limitations of wealth

 

“I can’t get no satisfaction” (Mick Jagger)

“Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income..” (Ecc.5:10)

(iii)  Focus on people, not possessions

 

 

 

 

(iv) Look beyond what is temporary

 “… fix [your] eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2Cor.4:18)

 

 

“What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”  (Mk.8:36)

 

 

(v) Be a giver

“It is more blessed to give than to receive”  (Acts20:35)

 

 

 

(vi) Find your security in Jesus Christ

 

 

 

What are you truly worth?

 

A prayer: Lord God, you said I shouldn’t covet.  But sometimes in my weakness I’ve reached out for things that I thought would satisfy me.  Yet once I had them, they seemed like cheap counterfeits.  They didn’t satisfy me at all. Please help me to surrender my selfish desires. Help me Jesus to learn that True Contentment comes from you alone. And so Lord, I say to you, I only desire those things that you know will satisfy me and fulfil me. In Jesus Name. Amen.

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