Contentment...

We had our weekly Wednesday night Bible Study tonight. Our Deacon, Mr. Lee Hill taught on contentment using the Ten Commandments. Here's my thoughts which were provoked...

1) "You shall have no other gods before Me." Our God is a jealous God. He demands that we worship only Him. If we are not content with this command and with our God who is merciful *and* just, then we create other gods. Money, cars, land, fame... the list continues...
2) "You shall not make for yourself an idol or anything..." This commandment is similar to the first. If we are discontent with what God has given us, and the means by which we are commanded to worship Him, then we will turn to idols. God commands us to be content. Discontentment with His perameters regarding worship is disobedience.
3)"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." When we allows ourselves to be discontent, we become emotional, and lose control of our thoughts and desires. We often allow our prayers to become just "Please give me, please help me, please, please, please..." We take the Lord's name in vain when we do this. We disregard the thanks and praise He deserves, and fill our prayers with petitions, petitions, petitions.
4)"Remember the Sabbath Day. " We typically, as humans with 40-hour work weeks, look forward to the weekend. But when we get to the Lord's Day, we often fail to remember to take complete delight in the day that God has given us to rest and enjoy Him. We often think about what we have to do on Monday, what we should have gotten finished on Saturday, and what we *should* be doing instead of resting. This is discontentment, and it is forgetting to remember the Sabbath.
5)"Honor your father and your mother." This commandment also applies to the rest of our authorities: state and local authorities, pastors, elders, uncles, *and* parents. When we rebel against them, or murmur against them, we are being discontent, and being disobedient.
6)"You shall not murder." God is the one who takes vengeance. We are not to do so. Being discontent in this case means that we don't want God to take vengeance for us, and are not satisfied with having to show mercy. So we murder, and are discontent.
7)"You shall not commit adultery." If we are discontent, we allow ourselves to want what is not ours. So we covet. Some people commit adultery. This is sin.
8)"You shall not steal." If we steal, we are discontent with what we have, and we want what someone else has. Blatant discontent.
9)"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." If you are not satisfied with letting the truth stand as the only evidence for a wrong/disagreement between you and your neighbor, then you allow yourself to become discontent, and spread lies as evidence.
10)"You shall not covet." Uh, covetousness is a direct result of discontent. End of story.

So, this is what I gleaned and thought about during/after the lesson tonight. And I think Mr. Hill is right. The Ten Commandments command us to be content. Whatever the circumstances, as Paul states in Philippians.