Contentment

As I drive cross country to deliver my soon to be ex-Mustang to the new buyer in Baton Rouge, I realize this is the last piece of excess accumulated over the years. Even though I'll miss the car, the parades, and topless summer nights, I am content in knowing it will go to a good owner, that having it this past decade was a blessing, but not a real need.

How do we have contentment in a world of discontentment? In the movie Talladega Nights, Ricky Bobby made a great observation about our culture when he said, “second place is the first loser.” This philosophy of life goes beyond sports. We always want to be ahead, or at least equal, with everyone else. It is so easy to want new and nicer stuff. We live a tough life with the constant pressure to keep up with everyone else. We don't want to have the oldest car (unless it's a '66 ragtop), smallest house, cheapest clothes, etc. We want to show off our stuff and show that we are in with everyone else.

Eventually, the race for stuff becomes unsatisfying or even problematic. We make some of the worst financial decisions when we are trying to keep up with the Joneses. Read Philippians 4:11-13. Would we be more fulfilled if we could be content with less?

Waylon Jennings put it this way-

"So baby let's sell your diamond ring
Buy some boots and faded jeans and go away
This coat and tie is choking me
In your high society you cry all day
We've been so busy keepin' up with the Jones
Four car garage and we're still building on
Maybe it's time we got back to the basics of love."

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=phil%204:%2011-13&version=NLT