October 17

Oct 17 - Today from Proverbs 17 we look at verse 1
"Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting with strife."

This proverb is probably accepted much more by means of experience than it is by counsel. One must exist in the 'house full of feasting with strife' for a period of time before one even begins to appreciate the 'dry crust with peace and quiet'. If not, it is very difficult to convince a person who has little more than a dry crust that the feasting isn't worth it.
The proverb for today speaks to us about the value of contentment. The dry crust represents our daily bread in perhaps the most minimal of circumstances - yet still sufficient to nourish our needs. God calls us to pray for our daily bread, and He promises to provide for our basic needs if we will but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. Yet, early in life, we often tend to enter into the house full of strife in order to get our share of the feast. The lesson of contentment doesn't come easy. For many it doesn't come at all. It is only after strife begins to take its toll that we begin to understand that there is a lot of 'collateral damage' in living a life of discontentment. There is collateral damage suffered in marriages and personal relationships. There is collateral damage suffered in the souls of our children. There is collateral damage suffered in our physical health. Worst of all, there is collateral damage suffered in our relationship with God.
Discontentment is very deceiving. It can often be hidden behind more socially acceptable terms; ambition, drive, go-getter, rising star . . . these adjectives do not necessarily define discontentment, but the motive beneath them will. It is found in the layer of our values. When we adopt world values, we knock on the door of the house of strife. "For everything in the world - the cravings of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boasting of what one has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world." (1 John 2:17).
Contentment does not come by finally having enough; by being one of the 'winners' in the house of strife. That's the lesson that seems to be so difficult to learn. Contentment comes by knowing Christ, by serving Him and knowing that He will provide what you need along the way. It comes by placing relationships in the highest value category; a relationship with God first, and relationships with our family and fellow man second. Jesus taught this principle in His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:19-34. The writer of Hebrews emphasizes it in chapter 13:5, "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.'" Paul instructs the church in 1 Timothy 6:6-8, "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing out of it. But we have food and clothing, we will be content with that." The great apostle Paul shares the secret of his contentment though his own testimony in Philippians 4:12, 13, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret to being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength."
Kingdom values are not found in how much or how little bread one has. It is found in the contentment of one's soul.