Jeremiah Burroughs: Discontented spirits

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Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

“Oh, the temptations that men of discontented spirits are subject to! The Devil loves to fish in troubled waters. That is our proverb about men and women, their disposition is to fish in troubled waters, they say it is good fishing in troubled waters. This is the maxim of the Devil, he loves to fish in troubled waters; where he sees the spirits of men and women troubled and vexed, there the Devil comes. He says, ‘There is good fishing for me’, when he sees men and women go up and down discontented, and he can get them alone, then he comes with his temptations: ‘Will you suffer such a thing?’ he says, ‘take this shift, this indirect way, do you not see how poor you are, others are well off, you do not know what to do for the winter, to provide fuel and get bread for you and your children’, and so he tempts them to unlawful courses. This is the special disorder that the Devil fastens upon, when he gets men and women to give their souls to him…”

Jeremiah Burroughs (1599-1646) in The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust) 76.

I liked this post because the illustration related to fishing. The devil aims to make us discontented people. Is that you? Be not troubled or vexed. You have everything you need in God.

This post also reveals a profound truth linked to contentment and generosity. We will never reflect Christian generosity if we do not resolve in our minds that we have everything we need in God.

The GTP team finished good meetings with ECFA and walked the mall in in Washington D.C. together yesterday evening. Today we will enjoy the Museum of the Bible before heading to Denver tomorrow.

We rejoice that God is with us and that He has given us this margin for team-building and to make memories together. Each day we will give thanks for His blessings lest we be tempted to be discontented.