What's So Wrong With Wanting More In Life?

Can we ever have enough? Is there ever a point where we say "I am content with what I have?" It just seems we are always looking at that supposed greener grass on the other side of the fence. Instead of being thankful for what we have we long for what we feel we are missing. It is hard to be happy, to find contentment when we think life, or maybe God, is holding out on us.

Christianity isn't suppose to be like that. Jesus brought us to a different perspective, mentality, place of existence. He first told us to stop putting our priorities in the temporary things of this world. He taught us that the Kingdom's values are different. Then he transformed us into a new creation, filling us with his Spirit, and making us capable to live as he had lived. What he taught was not suppose to be an outside edict conforming our behaviour but a heart transformation that provoked the fruit of change. The problem is, this fact is not always explained to Christians as they struggle with the pull of this world and their changed heart.

Listen to this wisdom from Proverbs:

Give me neither poverty nor riches—
Feed me with the food allotted to me;
Lest I be full and deny You,
And say, “Who is the Lord?”
Or lest I be poor and steal,
And profane the name of my God. (Proverbs 30:8-9)

There is much wisdom here. Just imagine if we could apply it. Imagine accepting to live with what we have. Imagine being able to resist the temptation of credit cards. Imagine being able to live with Yahweh as our provider, recognizing him as a good provider and not longing for things he has not provided.

It is not a matter of money being evil, although it is a root of evil. Jesus told us to use money as a tool, to control it, use it and not become enslaved to it. We get off track when we think we are suppose to provide for ourselves. Yahweh opens the doors of opportunity and closes them as well. He provides through the harvest but he also sometimes has to send manna. When we go searching outside of his provision we are disrespecting him, telling our Father he is not a good provider.

Maybe someday perhaps we will understand this but as long as the system of the world continues to dominate the Kingdom in us, we will continue to struggle to be content. Jesus should be sufficient and most of us claim that he is. It takes real honesty with self and the conviction of the Spirit to know the real condition of our hearts.

Why Do We Spend Money On What Does Not Satisfy?

As much as I want to believe we are capable of doing good, unless we are concentrating on Jesus, we will always be sucked into what satisfies our flesh. We have to purposefully seek the face of Jesus every day in order to walk in the Spirit instead of our flesh. We have to be totally consumed by his love every day in order for us to keep our eyes on things above instead of what we see around us. We hear the invitation:

Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price. (Isaiah 55:1)

But we don't always respond. We can easily ask ourselves on certain days:

Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy? (v. 2a)

Good question. Why do we put any value in the system of this world? Just because we have to live and serve here does not mean we need to be in love with this place, the system or the values. Our pleasure is found in Jesus and our love is for the people trapped in the limited vision of this world, not the world system itself. So each day we hear the Spirit calling:

Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance. (v. 2b)

Each day, as we seek Jesus and make ourselves open to the awareness of his presence in us, we are reminded of our mission. We are reminded that our King did not leave us in this place for our own entertainment. He gives us purpose every day and it goes beyond worship. Worship is what we do in everything we do but our purpose is to make disciples. We speak the words of his invitation to those who are passing into death:

Seek the Lord while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near. (v. 6)

The King's message is one of hope and mercy. It is an invitation to love. It is fantastic news to those who are hungry and thirsty. It is fantastic news for those who are restless, unable to find satisfaction in this place. We speak this message of mercy and grace with all who will hear:

Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the Lord,
And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon. (v. 7)

We tell them of the love found on the cross, the life through the empty grave, and the presence and power through the giving of the Spirit. We care not for their current condition or situation. We care not about the nature of their sin. We only care that they would hear, receive and be forgiven all things, being welcomed into the family of Father. We let go our our blood lust for justice and are empowered by the love, mercy and grace of Jesus Christ. We recognize that while under the power of sin our thinking was crooked and depraved. We hear Yahweh's sweet reminder:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts." (v. 8-9)

Oh what a Saviour. Oh what a King. And this seen through the eyes of a prophet who had yet to see Jesus, who had yet to hear of the mercies of the cross and the victory over the grave. If he could see so clearly from a distance why do we struggle in the shadow of the cross?

Come my brothers and sisters, let us set aside the things that distract, the things that consume our life, the things that possess mere temporary importance and let us run our race, the one set out before us. Let us fix our eyes on the prize, on our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us set our heart and mind on the things above and allow the things of this world to diminish in importance. Let us be consumed with our mission, conveying the love of Jesus for those who are lost in rebellion, as we once were. Let us love with Jesus' love which does not hold back but pours itself out recklessly upon his enemies.

Oh, what a Saviour!