Godliness With Contentment Is Great Gain
1 Timothy 6:6, 7
When the people saw that Moses (who was a foreshadowing of Yahshua) had ascended into the presence of Yahveh and was so long in coming down the mountain, their attention turned from their miracle working Deliverer to created images and fleshy preoccupations (see Exodus 32:1). The formless God of Israel who appeared in signs and wonders yet, was invisible in bodily form was NOT enough. So they created an image– an Idol − something they could see and touch in the natural. This was rebellion, self- deception, and idolatry.
Some may think that Yahshua (Jesus) is taking a long time: “I’m going to find things that thrill me,” says the world. “I’m going to find things that take away my boredom, ease my pain and sorrows.” Our Savior’s remedy is simple to the woes of the world and the prolonged endurance test as we wait for His return — “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6). He is our reward. If Yahshua is not enough for us and waiting longingly is boring and unfulfilling, then we will turn to the friendship with the world that will make us an enemy to Yahveh (the Lord) causing loss of our eternal blessings (see James 4:4).
Back to Exodus 32: After they made the idol, “they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry,” meaning abandoning themselves to sensuous pleasures and forgetting the Holy One who just delivered them out of bondage. Yahveh says about them, “They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf [an idol] …You know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil … Moses saw that the people were out of control” (Exodus 32:8,22,25).
There was no reverential awe and fear of Yahveh (the Lord) in waiting and preparing for Moses’s return. The people were running wild and Aaron the priest (who today we might call a pastor) had let them get out of control. Like many "professing believers” today, they do not exhibit the fruit of the spirit of self control therefore their flesh is out of control, which denies the power and grace of the Holy Spirit to help them overcome the flesh.
Yahshua (Jesus) said in the last days, "Because lawlessness (the rebellion and nullification of the Holy Commandments) is increased, most people's love will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). Our Father reiterated through the prophets and His Son, our Savior, that the commandments will never be nullified. “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matthew 5:18). Any one who tries to blot them out as unimportant and not pertinent to their walk so, too, by their rebellion to walk in their own understanding they will be blotted out of His book of life (see Revelation 3:5).
Prayer:
Father in Heaven, I pray that I learn from these examples of rebellion and idolatry and never forget You, the Holy One, who gave Your only begotten Son to die in my place to deliver me from my many sins that lead to death that I might have eternal life in Your righteous Kingdom.Please help me to be longingly and eagerly awaiting Your return. Help me to be self-controlled, beating back my fleshy desires and not allowing the enticements, lusts, pleasures and deceptions of this dying world to draw me into rebellion. Father, I see the unfolding of the many events that are causing multitudes to fear but You have “not given [me] a spirit of fear” (2 Timothy 1:7). May my joy be so fixed upon You who is love for “there is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). So instead of fear, I will have the faith that will help me to stay focused on working out my salvation; to be ready, prepared and joyful because my hopes and desires are all in You and Your coming Kingdom. You alone are able “to keep [me] from stumbling, and to make [me] stand in the presence of [Your] glory blameless with great joy” (Jude 1:24). To You be the glory and the power forever!
