Paralyzing Discontentment

First Timothy 6 says that the love of money is the root of all evils.  I have heard that quoted countless times, and I have also heard it misquoted countless times to say: Money is the root of all evils. 

Since money is an inanimate object, it cannot be evil; just as the internet or guns or knives cannot be evil.  These things become what their owners are.  If the owner of a gun is evil, the gun will be used for evil.  The internet in the hands of good people produces good things. And so on.

I have thought often about the love of money verse, and as I was reading it again today, I noticed something else.  Four verses ahead of it is the verse which says: But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into this world and we can take nothing out. 

That says to me that I can be godly but still be discontent.  That is a bad combination because, for me, the discontentment pretty much turns me into a worthless blob on quests for artificial happiness. 

So why on God’s green earth would I become discontent?  It would be the same reason, I think, as it was for Eve.  She had it all yet she became, I think, bored. And this bred discontentment. The serpent used these human foibles and tempted her with more.  More knowledge, more freedom, more power, and more excitement.

So the serpent continues to tempt us all to want more of what we don’t have, or of what we have little of.  We think that if we have more widgets and money we will be content.  But it is not so.  Watch one episode of Entertainment Tonight and see that the Hollywood Types have more trouble than the average person even though they have everything.  They are rich and pretty but they are unhappy and discontent. Their marriages don’t last, they are picked up for drunk driving, they are on drugs, their facelifts have fallen... the list goes on and on.

Timothy’s words ring so true:  For they that will become rich, fall into temptation, and into the snare of the devil, and into many unprofitable and hurtful desires, which drown men into destruction and perdition.

Recognizing and repenting of my tendency to be discontent for no good reason helps me refocus my sights on what is important and what God wants me to be and what He wants me to do with the time and resources He has given me.

God is able

A man is in the august years of his life.  He spent most of those years hitting the bottle, terrorizing his family, and hating the Church.  At the same time, he worked hard  trying to make a living but he drank the money as fast as he made it.

Even though this man showed no desire to change, his family believed that some day his heart would soften and that he would be happy.  Years have gone by and now the family can see the evidence of what they had hoped for all these decades. 

The man has changed.  Slowly, the compulsive habits have loosened their grip on him. His eyes light up when the children and grandchildren come over. These days he even turns on his wife’s favorite radio Bible program and listens with her. 

One day, after many gentle attempts over the years by his son-in-law asking him if he would like to say the blessing over a family meal, the man did!  It was not the typical salutation, petition, and closing prayer most of us utter.  It was more like a little speech spoken by the patriarch of the family.   It did not start out with “Dear Lord” nor did it end with “In Jesus Name” but it was an honest, heartfelt gladness for the gathering of family and friends.  It was a bold and brave attempt done by a man who for so long had declared himself an enemy of Jesus and the family of God. 

It was the kind of prayer where the great cloud of witnesses hush their praises and bend their ears to hear the words of someone who is finally coming home to the arms of God.  The angels in heaven rejoiced when they heard the man’s thanksgiving. And God himself was present at the family table. 

St. Peter wrote that God does not wish anyone to be lost but that all will come to repentance. God will do whatever it takes to redeem us all. 

Praise God that He is patient with all of us and is able to soften the hardest of hearts.  

Always be thankful

Today the sun is shining and there is a warm breeze blowing from the south.  A chorus of birds, crickets, and frogs is the only sound that breaks the silence, and it is easy to be thankful for my surroundings. 

We, especially in this part of the country, are so blessed.  We are sheltered from so many bad things that happen all over the world.  The destructive weather, earthquakes, tsunamis, and escalating crime are not headliners in our small communities and I hope we recognize this and send our thanks to God for that protection.

And while we give thanks for those good things, it’s pleasing to God when we also give thanks for things that are not so good.  Our personal trials are blessings because they make us stronger in our faith.  The idiosyncrasies  we often chastise ourselves over keep us humble and remind us that we are weak humans who need God.

Small, annoying things like mosquitoes, dogs that dig holes in the flower beds, dead car batteries, traffic, and difficult family members grow our patience, and if we didn’t have these things to contend with we would remain immature.

Corrie TenBoom, in her account of the Nazi occupation in Holland, grumbled many times over the bed bugs in the beds of the prison camp where she and her sister were imprisoned.  When Betsy showed her that those bed bugs kept the prison guards out of their bunk house, she realize God sent them as a gift to the women.  Because there was less monitoring of their activity, the women were free to sing and pray and read the Bible each night.  I want to be just as mindful of difficult circumstances as Betsy and pray:

Thank you Lord for all you have blessed us with.  Thank you for those trials which pull us towards you, and thank you for the gifts that show us how much you love us.  Help us never to take anything for granted but to see everything with eyes of gratitude.