BONUS: Marked by Contentment
Pardon the Mess with Scarlet Hiltibidal - Christian Motherhood, Biblical Parenting, Raising Christian Kids
Scarlet Hiltibidal and Christian Parenting
4.9 • 849 Ratings
🗓️ 16 October 2023
⏱️ 8 minutes
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Summary
“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” —Philippians 4:11
At one point, John D. Rockefeller was the world’s richest man and the first billionaire in America. When a reporter asked him how much money is enough, he responded, “Just a little bit more.”
“A little bit more” is our culture’s mantra. And it’s not just limited to more money. We want more friends, more toys, more accolades, more popularity, more recognition, more respect, more security (and on and on and on).
At the end of the day, contentment isn’t about our possessions, it’s about our heart. So often we think we’re discontent because of our job or bank account, but really our discontentment is a struggle with God’s measure of provision for our lives.
In Philippians, Paul writes about being content whatever the circumstances. In doing so, he gives us a significant hint as to how contentment works: it’s learned. It’s consistently taking ourselves back to the cross, knowing that only through the lens of the gospel can we move from grumbling about what we don’t have to gratitude for what we do have but don’t deserve.
Let’s pray that our kids can grasp the gift of contentment in a culture of “a little bit more,” allowing them to fully appreciate God’s provision in their own life while celebrating what he’s doing in the lives of others.
Lord, help my kids to live marked by contentment. Teach them to value people over possessions, appreciating that all their needs are already met in you. Reveal the greed, entitlement, and idolatry that leads to being discontent, and bring [name] back to a posture of gratitude no matter their circumstances.
God’s word speaks: 1 Timothy 6:6–8; Matthew 6:31–33; Hebrews 13:5; Psalm 37:4
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Christian Parenting. |
| 0:03.0 | Hey everybody, welcome back to Pardon the Mess. We are praying together every Monday. |
| 0:19.5 | Just for a few minutes, we're praying through a journal |
| 0:21.7 | called Marked by Prayer. And this week is specifically about contentment. Okay, don't click off. I know. |
| 0:27.6 | I know. This is an area that I struggle with as well. And so it is a very common struggle with those of us |
| 0:33.8 | that live in the Western world, that live in cities like Dallas or Atlanta or Birmingham, |
| 0:37.9 | that have most of what we need, if not all, and much more. So this is normal. And I want to tell you |
| 0:43.6 | that up front, that don't get through the end of this and think your kids are awful, that you've |
| 0:48.9 | done a terrible job parenting. Just know, like, this is a reality of raising them in this time |
| 0:53.1 | in our world and the place that you're |
| 0:55.1 | raising them, but we don't have to shy away from doing what God designed us to do, which is have a |
| 1:00.1 | heart of contentment and gratitude and fight against things like entitlement and greed and comparison. |
| 1:06.5 | I know in my car, sometimes I'll drive some kids around and they're so quick to say, like, |
| 1:10.0 | well, my mom doesn't do that and you guys do, or we don't ever get to eat out and you guys always do or |
| 1:15.5 | I never get new shoes and they're typically they're kids they're looking for the one of two things |
| 1:20.8 | they don't have and forgetting to focus on and thank their parents for all the things that they |
| 1:25.8 | have including shoes on their feet, breath in |
| 1:28.8 | their lungs, a world that's safe, a school they get to go to, air conditioning, I mean, food, |
| 1:35.0 | on and on. And this is so natural for our kids to just look for the things that they want versus |
| 1:39.8 | look at the things that they need or have a heart just overflowing with gratefulness. |
| 1:44.7 | And it takes time and they're maturing. And so what do we do? First of all, let's look at the |
| 1:49.5 | Bible. It says in 1 Timothy 6, 6 through 8 that, but godliness with contentment is great gain, |
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