Different Life: 9th & 10th CommandmentsSample

We live in a world that wants and wants and wants. Pursuing these wants is considered life’s greatest good. What if I could be rich? What if I could live there? What if I could have that job? What if I could look like that? We’re told to follow our dreams. Of course “dreams” is just code for saying “what I want.”

God’s way is different. God calls us to something very counter-cultural. He calls us to contentment.

There’s nothing so averse-sounding as being happy with what you have. But this is what God calls us to delight in. If God is our first and highest delight, than the gifts he gives us take their proper place. Special, but not the core of our existence.

Jesus warns against the discontent life. In Matthew 6 Jesus tells his disciples to treasure the things of God over the things of this world. He warns them against an “evil eye.” This doesn’t refer to some kind of hex or malevolent look that curses someone. It’s a metaphor for greed. An eye that’s always attracted to what it does not have. It’s no accident that this is immediately followed by Jesus telling us we don’t have to worry, that God knows our needs, and will take care of us and bless us.

What would it look like to take joy in what you have rather than to obsess over that which you don’t? I suspect it would lead to a happier, healthier, better adjusted life. Take a moment. List some of the good things God has given you and that you are experiencing. Rejoice in him for those things today.