God's Wisdom In A Nutshell

Today I’d like to talk to you about an aspect of social media that will leave anyone who views it- in want. It’s the social media site called Pinterest- a virtual dream list of all of the things we may ever want in life. But God has something to say about accumulating pictures of things that we dream about having someday.

^“Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless—like chasing the wind.”(Ecc 6:9)

Much of social media is eye candy. We see fashions we’d like to wear, we see homes that we would like to have and if we cannot have them then we want to redo the homes we have in order to fulfill this desire. There is nothing at all wrong with desiring to get our homes in good shape, to redo the things that have fallen into disrepair and to replace things that no longer work properly. The problem with our smart phones, is that it keeps us notified when a new post is ready so that we have eye candy at all times of the day- even during times that we were productive and weren’t  thinking of the desires of our heart.

God tells us:

“Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

This is an interesting verse isn’t it. Is it really true you may ask? If we simply love the Lord and delight in knowing Him, He will give us our desires?

Well, lets take it a bit deeper. As we get to know the Lord through reading the Bible, meditating on what we have read and then praying to the Lord for guidance, we will certainly know the Lord better and we will see that this relationship with Him is actually quite wonderful. If we do this year after year yet we see no change in our life towards what we desire- for example the desire for a larger home, or the desire to live in a more exciting city, or the desire to have that promotion at work- we may ask ourselves if this verse is really true.

We must remember that God sees the whole picture. He sees that a larger home means more stuff. More stuff means more to clean, organize and to keep in good repair. This would cause us more stress and more money. If we moved to a larger and more exciting city so that we are able to go to more concerts,  hip restaurants and have more upscale shopping, what would we be leaving behind? Are we leaving our parents and lifelong friends behind? Are we taking grandchildren away from their grandparents? Will we be walking further from the Lord by focusing on the world rather than on the Kingdom? How will this benefit us in the end?

If we received that promotion at work and the accolades and salary that go with it, what will that do in our family life? We may have more money but no doubt we will also have less time with our family due to the higher responsibility and the hours required.  Will the extra money help us or hurt us? Will it allow us to buy that bigger home and then have the need to fill it with furniture and things and send us right back into the first scenario I mentioned?

Being content with what we have is a virtue and it must be practiced. We must take our wants and desires and think through the whole scenario right down the line to the end, seeing what we don’t see in the beginning.

When my kids were small I would read them a book about small, medium and large portions. One of the character always took the small, the other always took the large. At the end of the book the character who took the large, couldn’t fit into his pants anymore, and he decided that he needed to find enjoyment in his food with smaller portions of ice cream, cookies and the like.

In the same way, God would like us to enjoy our lives. (Ecc 3:13) But the best way to enjoy ALL ASPECTS of our life, is if we acquire just the amount that we need. To eat just the amount our bodies need. To rest just the amount to refresh us and not make us lethargic. To work at a job that doesn’t require overtime constantly so we have time with those we love- especially the Lord!

If we do this we will thoroughly enjoy all that we have and the things we acquire will not “have us” we will have them. Meaning, we will not be working like a slave to upkeep everything.

Less is really is more in God’s eyes. Having less will leave us with extra time to enjoy a relationship with the Lord. He is the One who can give us all things starting with the intangible and most precious quality: peace in our hearts, contentment and a joy that has nothing to do with what we have and everything to do with who’s we are- a child of God!

Food For Thought-

Lisa