blished 9/23/19
By Greg Johnson
What If...
Mom, you’re a good employee. You’ve been with your company for many years. Your job is very fulfilling and has good benefits, but it doesn’t pay that well. You’re able to help with the family budget, but there’s rarely enough for extras. Most of the time, your vacations are spent doing work around the house or relaxing with us kids.
Though many families you know don’t have it as good as we do, you sometimes have this nagging feeling that you’re missing out on something.
One Saturday morning you’re out washing your car, a 2005 Ford. It’s not a junker, but it doesn’t compare with the cars of others in our neighborhood. As you’re finishing up, one of the neighbors drives by in a brand-new minivan. She pulls into her driveway and motions for you to come over. She’s a nice woman, but she likes to show off her new “toys” whenever she can. Acting interested isn’t hard. You’d love a new car, but you know that you have to save to get braces for the kids, so the old car will have to do for a few more years.
That night, your brother calls you up and tells you about this new boat he bought. Well, it’s not brand-new, but it’s an eighteen-footer. He wants to know if you can get away for a few days of fishing. Explaining that you have to work some overtime this week, you decline.
The next morning at church, a friend from Sunday school corners you to tell you about the new hot tub her family got last week. She wants to know if you can come by later in the day to try it out. You say you’ll see if you can break away.
It seems like everyone is getting new stuff... except you.
Questions to Think On
• Have you ever felt like you just can’t keep up with other families you know who are buying new stuff every year? How does that make you feel?
• When you think of the word contentment, what comes to mind?
• Do you feel like you are a contented person, or do you sometimes find yourself wishing for more “things?”
• What do you think is the secret of contentment?
What Does God Have to Say?
A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
(c)