Therefore, ‘having food and raiment let us be therewith content.’ The word in the Greek translated here ‘raiment’ indeed means clothing, raiment, but it also means shelter.
Now the verse doesn't mean having a shelter over our head, and having the clothes we possess right now, let us be content with them and never desire any others. It doesn't mean that you must never move house, you must be content with the dwelling you're in at the moment, no matter how much your family may outgrow it. You must be content with what you have now. It doesn't mean you must make your present clothes last a lifelong and never feel the need to change them. What it means is, let us be content with having clothing and housing and food. Of course these things may change. You may need to upgrade, you may be compelled to move about and so on. You may reasonably aspire to move from something which is imperfect to something which is more suitable. It's not talking about that. What it's saying is that Christian people must be content with a reasonable standard, with the necessities of life. They must say, ‘I've got a perfectly good home; I've got a perfectly good car that functions and gets me about; my family is fed and clothed, but I want more than that in this life. I want the best house. I want a bigger house for the sake of it. I want to make an impression. I want it filled with gold and silver and jewellery and precious things. I want particularly outstanding attire and clothes.’ No, with these necessities of life, with these reasonable things, with the basic equipment of life, food and clothing and dwelling place and so on, let us be content. Let us be satisfied with that as Christian people. We are not to pursue what becomes almost as an alternative religion. We are not to pursue fame, fortune, wealth, possessions for their own sake. That is the standard of the Scripture. That is a most important standard.