If I had to choose between my wife and my putter... well, I’d miss her.
Contentment
But godliness with contentment is great gain. 1 Timothy 6:6Contentment is not a common characteristic in sport. “It is OK, chairman, I don’t want a new contract – I am paid enough”. Not! It is not popular in our “me first” culture.
It is hard when you are on the bench and you desperately want to play. Perhaps you are underpaid. The key is how you react.
Kriss Akabusi tells the story of how he always wanted to have a Mercedes. One day he got one and was so happy. Then someone overtook him in a bigger Mercedes. He wanted a bigger Mercedes….
The answer is not in getting what you want but learning to be content with what you have.
We have a saying in UK “Keeping up with the Joneses”. The Joneses are a family up the road who are richer than I am. If they get a new car, bigger house etc, then I feel I need to keep up with them. Strange how I don’t want to compare myself with the family down the road who have a smaller house and older car than I!
Contentment is an attitude, a character trait to be developed. The secret is in the first half of the phrase. Our contentment is linked to godliness. As we seek to put God first in our lives, we see less reason to be discontent.
A man was once staying in a very Spartan monastery. The monks said to him on arrival, “Let us know if you need anything and we will help you to do without it.”