Your Business Shouldn't Run You: How True Contentment Changes Everything

Finding contentment in God's grace alone provides the foundation for running your business without letting it consume you. We explore how linking our emotional well-being to external circumstances creates an exhausting rollercoaster that conflicts with biblical teaching on sufficiency.

• 1 Timothy 6:6 reminds us there's much gain in godliness with contentment
• Challenging question: Is it God's grace plus something else equals contentment, or is grace alone sufficient?
• Perceived lack doesn't mean God isn't providing—He walks alongside us in wilderness seasons
• Our cup overflows when we find contentment in Christ, not in business outcomes
• This mindset shift requires daily recommitment, not just intellectual agreement
• God calls us to redeem culture by representing Christ well in our businesses

Look for ways this week to represent Christ well in your sphere of influence. Spend quality time with the Lord, don't isolate yourself, and pursue Him above all else.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 0 (00:00):
What's up, guys?
This is Matt with Avoda Talk,or the real Matt Walton.
This is your hub for all thingsKingdom business business as
ministry business strategy.
My goal is to provide as muchvalue, minute by minute, each
podcast that you listen to.
So let's get to it.
What's up, guys?
This is Matt with Avoda Talk,or at the real Matt Walton,

(00:21):
depending on how you found me.
And today I want tospecifically talk about how to
run your business without yourbusiness running you, and I'm
going to go off on some rabbitholes that are all going to tie
back to this.
1 Timothy 6, verse 6 is anawesome verse to me.
I just flipped out of it, butit says for there's much gain in
godliness only when accompaniedby contentment.

(00:43):
I've really got to show me thatverse a few weeks ago and, man,
it really convicted me, becausethere's so many times when we
can do things out of obedienceto the Lord or maybe it can be
almost become like a religiousact, because we're like, well,
we're praying, we're doing ourquiet time, but are we content
with where the Lord has us, andI think of Paul.
I can be content with much orwith very little, and that's

(01:05):
really the desire of where Ibelieve the Lord wants all of us
to get to is even whenever wehave perceived lacked, we're
nothing but, or we'reoverflowing, excuse me, because
who is overflowing us, who isfilling us up, and that should
be Jesus Christ, and I know somany times.
We can start to pursue thingsoutside of the Lord, within
business or within our life, andstart to allow ourselves to be

(01:28):
fulfilled with those things, andthen, when we're not getting
the results that we believe thatwe should be getting, we can
find ourselves going in thisemotional roller coaster, and
God wants for us, according tohis scripture, to get out of
this.
What God shared with meyesterday I spent some time with
the Lord up in the mountainsyesterday was Matt.
Is it my grace is sufficient,plus, maybe, a new job?

(01:49):
Is it my grace plus a new jobequals contentment or equals
sufficiency, or is it my gracealone, my love alone, that
equals the contentment orsufficiency?
So that is a question that Ihave for all of you.
Does it require somethingexternal to come in for you to
be content or for you to besufficient or feel like you're
overflowing?
You find yourself in thisemotional roller coaster and if

(02:12):
you do, I believe that the Lordis speaking through me to you
right now to try to get both ofus to understand that there's
much gain with the Lord whenaccompanied by contentment, and
we can find ourselves pursuingthe Lord but pursuing these
other things over here, albeitthey may not be bad, but God
knows our heart, exactly whyyou're pursuing these things and

(02:35):
if it's something that is notin alignment with what God wants
you to do, you can findyourself feeling empty or
feeling like maybe you have tofill yourself up with something.
So again, is it grace plusbusiness?
Is it grace plus a new job?
Equals contentment or equalssufficiency, or is it just God's

(02:56):
grace and his mercy and hislove alone that equals that
sufficiency or contentment?
Understand that if you believe Iknow this is something that a
lot of believers, I think we all, have an understanding that the
Lord provides.
We see this all throughoutscripture that God provides for
his people.
But if your circumstances don'tchange, do you immediately go
to the Lord did not provide,because there's so many times I
share this with people wheneverI'm evangelizing out on the

(03:16):
streets we look for ourcircumstances to change and if
they don't change, then God'snot here.
You know God left us alone andGod's not here when, in reality,
we are walking that path rightalongside God and if we allow
for God's grace, love and mercyto be sufficient, we will find
our cup overflowing.

(03:37):
And this is in alignment withwhat Jesus talked about in
Matthew and we see the apostlestalk about in some of the first
Timothy Corinthians.
First Peter talks about thiswhat is your heart posture?
Know that if you believe thatthe Lord will provide, and maybe
you're in that wildernessseason before you enter into the
promised land, or before youenter into the provision, if you

(04:00):
are an emotional roller coasteror maybe an emotional wreck, or
maybe you're taking things intoyour own hand, what God is
sharing with me is, matt, I donot want you to be thinking
about the possibility of whatmay come.
I don't want you to be thinkingwell, I know that this is
coming.
So then, that aids in youfeeling somewhat fulfilled.
Again.
What God continues to sharewith me is, matt, my grace and

(04:22):
love and mercy are sufficient.
It is the finished work of thatcross, it is the fact that I
love you so much that I haveforgiven everything that you
have done and will do.
It is the fact that I havefreedom that is available to you
whenever you take on my yoke.
And no, it doesn't mean thatthings get easy.
I think a lot of us have a realunderstanding that things

(04:44):
sometimes, whenever we give ourlife to the Lord, can get a
whole lot harder, but again, wehave Jesus to walk right
alongside us.
So, man, I really hope thatthat encourages somebody today.
I know that one of the thingsthat God continues to press into
me is just that, and anytimethat I start to take things into

(05:06):
my own hand, I can feel myselflike running uphill.
And you may ask yourself likeit almost seems like nothing is
working for me right now.
It almost seems like everythingthat I dip my hand into.
Maybe relationships aren'tcoming along like they should be
, maybe people aren't answeringtheir phone anymore.
Maybe your phone is not ringinganymore.
Maybe you don't have the jobsthat you had at one time, maybe
you just find yourself in aperceived lack.

(05:29):
And then we look at scriptureand we see that, regardless of
all of that, if we really trustin the Lord and we really pursue
the Lord, that we will findourselves being overflowing.
Our cup will overflow.
So are you in that moment rightnow?
And I'll say this too, like itcan be a lot of times like daily
thing, like easy for us to likewrite or read a book or do a

(05:53):
podcast or listen to a podcast,and do it in those moments.
Then, as soon as you step awayfrom that, we can find ourselves
like living that out fully.
It has to be a decision that youmay have to make by day, week
by week.
Continue to press into the Lord, because there's great gain in
godliness and contentment.
It's not godliness plus anotherjob, it's godliness plus

(06:16):
contentment.
This is what 1 Timothy 6, verse6 talks about.
And I want to ask one more timeis God's grace sufficient?
Is God's mercy sufficient?
Is God's mercy sufficient?
Is God's love sufficient, ordoes it have to be coupled with
something else to make itsufficient?
So if that's the case, man, Iwant you to know, man, that God
is enough and he loves you somuch and man.

(06:40):
One last thing is God hascalled us as Christians to
literally redeem the culture,and so look for ways this week
that you can represent Christwell present, spend time with
the Lord, don't isolate butspend nothing, but just time
with the Lord and pursue Him andHim alone.