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It’s Friday and you are just hours from a long awaited weekend. We live in a culture and country where we have so much that we throw stuff out and away every day and week. You would think this would keep us from being complainers and whiners. It almost seems we are hot-wired to be discontent. Look at Psalm 90:14, “Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives” (NLT). 

We always seem to want more things, newer things, nicer things and more expensive things that are at least on par with our neighbors and usually, a little better than what they have. God knows our hearts and this is why coveting, or not coveting I should say, made in the big Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:17 says, “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor” (NLT). 

Sadly, having more things does not equal being happier. This is a hard lesson to learn. More things require more time to keep up. More things means spending more money, usually, money we do not have to impress neighbors we may not like. To many people, more never seems to be enough. Please read the following verses below:

  • 1 Timothy 6:6-7, “Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. (7) After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it” (NLT).
  • Hebrews 13:5, “Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you” (NLT). 
  • Luke 12:15, “Then He (Jesus) said, `Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own’” (NLT).
  • Proverbs 15:16, Better to have little, with fear for the Lord, than to have great treasure and inner turmoil” (NLT).
  • Proverbs 30:8-9, “First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. (9) For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name” (NLT).

For some of us, “more” never seems to be enough. This verse from Psalms is a wonderful prayer for all believers who want to realign their priorities and put God at the center of their days. Jesus put it this way in Matthew 6:33, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need” (NLT).

I guarantee, if you will take your focus off acquiring “more” and choose to focus on the love and extravagant provision God has given you, you will be filled with joy and gladness beyond what any material possession can bring. What is so sad to me is that many Christians, believers and disciples seek material possessions, or positions or power at the cost of their personal relationship to Jesus Christ and even to others.

These become an idol to them. Oops. There is another one of those top Ten Commandments we are NOT to break. Look at Exodus 20:4-6, “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. (5) You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord Your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject Me. (6) But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love Me and obey My commands” (NLT).

As a pastor I have done hundreds of funerals and to this day I have never seen a U-Haul in a funeral procession. You can’t take it with you but it will be passed on to others. All those personal possessions you worked hard to get and spend good money for, will go to others who neither toiled nor sweated nor probably for some, do not even appreciate your sacrifice.  

Questions To Consider

  1. How satisfied and content are you with what you already have? Why did you answer this way?
  2. How satisfied and content would Jesus Christ say you really are with all that you have right now? Why did you answer that way?
  3. Has your quest for more ever caused pain, heartache, worry, financial struggles or anxiety for you? If so, what does this tell you?
  4. If you could go back in time and not pursue something you wanted more of or something newer, what would it be and why?
  5. How can you put into practice what Psalm 90:14 says? Of the additional verses listed above, which of these do you need to apply right now and why?

Scripture To Meditate On: Philippians 4:11-13,  “Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. (12) I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. (13) For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (NLT).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, I need to learn to be content with what You have already given me. I confess that “keeping up with the Jones” is a joke because they have probably refinanced. I do not need to be spending money I do not have, on things I really do not need, to impress people I may not even like. How foolish that is Lord. I need to seek You first and Your kingdom, Your reign in my life. In the end, I will not take anything with me I have here except the salvation You have given me. Lord, that is enough. I love You. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside!—Pastor Kelly



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