SERMON QUOTE
“Having enough money has a lot more to do with who you are than with what you make.”
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT
What exactly would it take for you to be content? Is your contentment based on things that are temporal or eternal?
John D. Rockefeller, at one point considered the world’s richest man, was once asked, “How much money is enough?” He responded, “Just a little bit more.”
That candid response would likely be the response of many people, because many are convinced that just a little more money would make them happy. For others, it’s not money. It’s a promotion or a relationship or some other fleeting measure. Whatever it is, if it is not of eternal value, it is sure to leave us empty and discontent.
We will only be content when we are fulfilling the purpose for which we were created. The first question in the Westminster Confession asks “What is the chief end of man?” The answer is “… to glorify God and enjoy Him eternally.” As long as we are pursuing our own vision of purpose, we will never be content.
Contentment is often evasive because our desires are misdirected to temporal rather than eternal matters. And it is not a matter of our desires being too strong. C. S. Lewis argues that;
“Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered us. Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a holiday by the sea?
AUTHOR BIO
Mark Neerhof and his wife Betty have been members of Christ Church since 2006.
PRAYER
Lord, thank you that deep, true contentment is found in You. I confess I have settled for too little by wanting and pursuing too much of what is outside of what you know will most satisfy me. Help me to want what you want, so that I can learn to be content with this life and free to pursue what matters most for life in your Kingdom.