Owning a car is vital in many parts of the U.S. In rural areas, public transportation is vastly non-existent. But needing a car to get around doesn’t mean you need a BMW, Mercedes-Benz, or Jaguar. A car is really only worth it’s transportation value. Once you can measure your car’s worth based on that factor alone, you can learn to be content with your car.

If You Own a Car, You’re Rich

       Nearly everyone old enough to drive in the U.S. owns a car, so it might not seem like you’re rich just because you have a vehicle in your driveway. But car ownership worldwide is not so prevalent. There were an estimated 806 million passenger vehicles worldwide in 2007, which means about 16% of people old enough to drive own a car.

       So if you own a car, even a really ugly one, you’re richer than 84% of the people in the world. Many people will never even dream of owning a car because it’s so far outside their realm of possibility.

Does Your Car Meet Your Needs?

       The key to being content with anything in your life is to ask yourself if it meets your needs. If your house meets your needs, then it’s big enough. If your food keeps you nourished and full, then you have enough food. If your car gets you where you need to go, then it’s good enough for you.

       Almost everyone in the U.S. has their needs met. Even the 37 million or so people the government classifies as poor are much better off than the rest of the world. Except for the very, very poorest of the poor Americans, they all have food, clothing, shelter, warmth, and medical care – not to mention the luxuries of a car, television, air conditioning, cell phones, computers, and other things that might not be completely necessary for life.

       If your car doesn’t meet your needs, then your dissatisfaction is not discontentment. But it’s hardly ever true for Americans that we have something that doesn’t really meet our needs. Our discontentment usually stems from a deeper problem.

Why Aren’t You Happy with Your Car?

       Is it because someone else has a nicer car than you? Or because there’s a better car available? Does that really matter? If your car meets your needs, then it doesn’t matter if someone else thinks it looks nice. And buying anything in an effort to impress other people is a losing proposition. Not only are you wasting your money in an attempt to buy flattery, but you’re also basing your self worth on the opinions of others.

       Materialism – finding our value in our Stuff – is the real reason most Americans aren’t happy with what they have. We feel like more Stuff or better Stuff will make us more fulfilled and happy. But your life does not consist in the abundance or quality of your possessions. Life is much more than Stuff, and you’ll never find true happiness in Things. How many people really believe they are happy because they have a fancy car? Seriously, if there’s anyone out there who believes that, please let me know. Then tell me what will happen if you lose that car or it gets totaled when you accidentally wreck it.

       Realize that a nicer car won’t make you any happier. A car that meets your needs is all you really need. Anything beyond that is just extra.

Base Your Happiness on the Only Thing That Really Matters

       There is only one foundation for true happiness that will last through life and death. Nothing you can do in this life can secure happiness for you or help you find contentment in anything. It’s only through the power of Christ that you can overcome the temptations and deceit of riches in this world. Christ has overcome the World and Satan, and through Him you can overcome them, too!

       For the person who is content in Christ, any car will do if it meets their needs. There’s never a concern about comparing your possessions to anyone else’s because you know they don’t really matter. Nothing in this life matters compared to knowing Jesus. Through Him, you can have the power to be content in any situation – whether hungry or full, homeless or sheltered, or driving an old beater or a brand-new sports car. The power of Christ – the knowledge that you have conquered life and death through Him – overwhelms the good or bad of any situation you’ll ever face in this life.

       It’s really only through Jesus that you can find true contentment in this life. Sure, you might be able to learn to find happiness beyond Stuff, but your happiness can only last until you die or until some situation comes along that pushes you beyond the limits of your strength. Somewhere along the line you’ll encounter trials that you cannot overcome. You’ll deal with situations that break your emotions and tear your happiness away. And it’s in those situations that a Christian can still find overwhelming joy and happiness because they’ve built their foundation on Jesus.

       The median size of a new home in America has grown from 1,200 square feet in 1940 to over 2,200 square feet in 2008. Why is this? Is it because our families are growing? Nope. The average household size has shrunk from 3.7 to 2.6 in that same time period. Our families are getting smaller, but our houses are getting bigger. It’s no small matter either. Using a $90/square foot average cost, the difference is $90,000 – not including increased property taxes, utilities, maintenance, repairs, and insurance costs. How does a bigger house for a smaller family make any sense? What’s the reason behind this?

Discontentment

       The only reason we’d need bigger houses for smaller families is our lack of contentment. Obviously, smaller houses worked just fine for the bigger families of the 1940s. They provided the shelter needed for the family. The size of the home didn’t matter nearly as much as whether it met your family’s needs or not. Today, we have homes that far exceed our needs while we’re languishing in debt and foreclosure. We want more amenities, more space, more bathrooms, more bedrooms, an entertainment room, a study, a bonus room, bigger garages, a fireplace, and it never ends.

       If we knew the power of enough, America might not be in the mess it’s in today. Materialism and consumerism have blinded us to our astounding wealth. We have wasted this wealth on our wants and desires and fantasies instead of using it to help the billions of poor around the world. Learning contentment would help us and the rest of the world.

What Does a Home Represent?

       To understand your motives for desiring a bigger house even when you don’t need it, you should start by looking at what a home represents to you. Here are few things a home could mean to you:

• Shelter – This is the most basic function of a home. It serves to shelter and protect you from the outside. It provides the necessities for a suitable home – a place to cook and eat, a place to sleep, a place to clean yourself, and a place to relax. It doesn’t take very much (at least in America) for a home to fulfill the purpose of a suitable shelter.

 

• Hospitality – A home gives you a place to entertain your family, friends, and strangers. Without adequate room this can be difficult. But a fold-up table and some chairs outside will often do just fine weather permitting. What you need your home to be for the purposes of hospitality will depend a great deal on what you plan to do, but you don’t need much to enjoy time with family and friends.

 

• Home – Home is where the heart is. For many people, a home is a place to make memories with their family. It’s a refuge from the troubles of the world. But does it take over 2,000 square feet for a home to serve this purpose? Not really – if your family is grounded in the Lord and love is there, you can have a strong, happy home with very little extra space.

 

• Creativity – A home can be a place to express yourself. You can decorate however you want, create a garden, or remodel it to suit your tastes. It can be an outlet for creativity when none other is available. But again, having more space than you really need doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll feel like you’re able to express your creativity much better.

 

• Storage – Most of the extra space in American homes today is filled to the brim with Stuff. You’ll see two or three car garages with all the vehicles sitting outside. What’s in the garage? Stuff, Stuff, and more Stuff. We’ve even created storage units so we can rent even more space to store all that Stuff we can’t find a place for in our overStuffed homes. Here’s a thought – get rid of your Stuff!!!

 

• Investment – Your home is your most valuable asset, right? Think again. Home values barely keep up with inflation over a long period of time, and that’s before you account for all the costs associated with ownership. A home is not an investment, and it can barely be called an asset. It’s a place to live – buying more home than you need is money down the drain. (The whole issue of a home being a good investment deserves it’s own series of posts…)

 

• Status – The most superficial of all possible meanings, status is one of the biggest factors involved when people seek a home that’s larger than what they really need. We use our homes to impress our families, our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors, strangers, and most of all – ourselves. Too often we derive our success in life from our possessions. Do we own a home? 20 points. Do we have a fancy car? 10 points. Can we retire early? 15 points. Do we have all the newest gadgets? 5 points. We need to stop valuing our success on our wealth and possessions. Life is so much more than our Stuff.

Does Your Home Meet Your Needs?

       Be brutally honest with yourself. Does your home meet your needs? Does it exceed your needs? The basic function of a home is to provide suitable shelter. If your home does that, it meets your needs. We need to learn to look at possessions for what they really are when we talk about what we need. They are tools to be used – not symbols to reflect our worth or success as a person.

       Our possessions do not define who we are. We can be happy without having more Stuff, bigger Stuff, or better Stuff. As Christians, our sufficiency, happiness, and joy come from contentment in Christ – knowing that all things count for nothing compared to knowing Him. We must realize that our eternal homes matter much more than our earthly homes. Jesus has prepared a place for us that is so much better than the biggest and fanciest home we could ever build on earth. Our hope and worth are found only in the salvation Christ has provided for us – not in our homes down here.

Question the Motives of Your Desires

       Why do you find yourself wanting a bigger home? Do you actually need more space? Carefully consider your answer. Is your reason for needing more space a true need, a must have, or is it something that would be nice to have? It’s not about what you can afford. It’s about what you need.

       Consider how blessed you are to even have a home. Over 3.5 million people in the U.S. are homeless in any given year, and over 1.1 billion people in the world don’t have suitable housing. The mere fact that you have a home means you are more blessed than many other people can even imagine.

       If you want a bigger house for any reason other than a real need, acknowledge your motives for what they are. The happiness you think you’ll get from owning a bigger home will never cover the true cost of your greed, envy, or pride. If your home meets your needs, be happy, content, and thankful that you are blessed with a home. If you honestly need a larger home, then by all means buy one. If you’re just seeking to fulfill your desires and fantasies, take time to consider your motives.

The Power of Enough Home

       If you can learn to be content with your home – or even better, a smaller home – you’ll be able to harness the power of having “enough” home. You’ll spend less on your housing costs (the biggest financial drain for most people) – leaving you with much more to fulfill God’s Provident Plan for your finances. Saving 10% on your housing costs is a lot more powerful than saving 10% on your food costs. Sign up to get free updates to Provident Planning if you’re interested in learning about specific ways you can lower your housing costs!