In last week’s weekend reading roundup, I promised to write up an article about why contentment and careful spending are serious issues for Christians. Here it is.
The American Dream. The idea that prosperity and success will give you a better, richer, and fuller life began mostly as a dream about the ability to achieve as much as you are able based on your abilities and hard work. But over the years it has morphed into something that’s measured almost completely by material wealth and goals. Owning a home (or at least living in one that you partly own…the bank owns the rest). Having a nice car. Pursuing a successful career (and making lots of money). Having a vacation home. Owning a boat/RV/ATV/motorcycle/jet ski/big screen TV/iPhone/one of everything. These have become the focus of the “American Dream”. It’s no longer about the virtue of rewarding industry and diligence justly. It’s all about having bigger, better, and more stuff.
And the funny thing is that many of us go through life pursuing this American Dream without consciously examining these goals to see if they’re really ours. Countless people look back on all the effort they expended in buying, using, and chasing stuff and accomplishments with a deep feeling of emptiness and grievous loss. “What was it all for?” “What was my life really about?” “What good did I do?” “What now?” “I wish I had(n’t)…”
As the late George Carlin once said, “It’s called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.” (I’m not endorsing everything George Carlin said…) This idea that material prosperity and success will lead to a fulfilling life is ludicrous when closely examined. And it ought to strike a very uncomfortable chord in the hearts of Christians who are fully pursuing God.
The problem is that we (Christians especially) don’t question it enough. Too many Christians blindly accept the goals of the American Dream as their own and spend their entire lives trying to achieve those goals. Seems like a strange way to live if we don’t want to be conformed to the patterns of this world.
What’s So Wrong about Wanting More, Better, or Nicer Stuff?
I want to be clear that I am not saying that all Christians must live extremely austere and Spartan lives. There is a place for the “extras” in our lives – the luxuries that we enjoy. There’s nothing inherently wrong in enjoying the beauty of a nice home, the relaxation of a boat ride, or the satisfaction of successful work. But the “American Dream” has become a lifestyle of seeking pleasure in anything and everything you want. It’s all about you.
But as Christians, we know it’s not about us – or at least we should know this. I don’t think I need to quote any Bible verses to prove my point here. Our purpose in life is not to pursue pleasure above all else and fulfill all our personal wants and desires. Our purpose is to honor and glorify our God – to seek out His will and then to do it.
In all my discussions about contentment (and I’ve discussed it quite a bit), my point has never been to draw lines about what Christians can conscientiously enjoy and what they should avoid when it comes to material things. I’m not here to tell you that it’s OK to drive a Honda but not a BMW. Someone else can just as easily say you should drive a Tata Nano (very cheap car) but not a Honda. We’re treading dangerous ground when we start to set strict guidelines for other Christians based on our own preferences and arbitrary guidelines. Contentment is not an excuse for self-righteousness.
The problem with wanting more, better, and nicer stuff and simply fulfilling those desires is that we stop asking ourselves what God’s will is when it comes to those issues. We either ignore His will completely or we assume that our will is God’s will. If we want to lead a life of significance – a better, richer, and fuller life – then we must start seeking God’s true will in everything. Not just in our career path, whom we should marry, or where we should live but in all things – even the day to day spending decisions we make.
Before you reason that God has blessed you and must obviously want you to enjoy these blessings for yourself, let me ask you this: Is your choice to use God’s blessings for your own wants a result of God’s will for you or your will for God? American Christians are very richly blessed with wealth and material things. But does this mean we should blindly use this wealth to continue lavishing luxury upon luxury on ourselves? Or could it be that God has greatly blessed us so we can give generously to those in need?
Contentment Is Not Laziness Or a Lack of Ambition
Too many people think of contentment as blind complacency – a “guise for mediocrity” as one detractor recently put it. But such a definition only signifies the person’s ignorance regarding the true nature and meaning of contentment. As I’ve written before, contentment is not complacency. It’s not laziness, apathy, or a lack of ambition. But here’s what contentment really is:
- Fulfillment – Not from what you own or what you do for a living, but from who you are in Christ.
- Sufficiency – In Christ, in our eternal life, and in our heavenly riches, but not in the brief, fleeting, and ultimately dissatisfying things of this World.
- Appreciation – For what we already have, not what we still want.
- Choice – To fully use what we have, to honestly and purposefully seek out God’s will, to consciously examine our goals and be sure they’re really our own, to use our excess for extreme generosity over self-seeking luxury.
God’s Word is exceedingly clear that contentment is an excellent virtue for Christians to pursue. We will always struggle to give generously if we cannot learn to find contentment in Christ. And we will pierce ourselves with many sorrows if we do not learn to hold to our faith and let go of our greed. But contentment does not come as an instant change that happens after you accept Christ. It takes time – and sometimes an epiphany. And that is why we must all make a strong and relentless effort to seek godliness and contentment as we walk with Christ. Consider these words from Colossians:
1 If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry;
Colossians 3:1-5 (WEB)
emphasis mine
So take time to stop and count the cost. Deny yourself and take up the cross. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Wake up from the American Dream!
Greed and envy come from within—they’re heart problems. These aren’t the kinds of heart problems that can be fixed by taking the right kinds of medicine, getting enough exercise, or eating right. Greed and envy are reflections of our deepest motives, desires, and attitudes. Humans are inherently prone to these kinds of thoughts because Sin infects every area of our lives. The only way we can get these things out of our hearts is to let God come in and take over.
We can start the process of renewing our minds and becoming new people by simply praying to God. David’s simple prayer here is a great way to start—simply asking God to keep us focused on Him and not on This World.
