Simple, peaceful life

Proverbs 15:15-16 All the days of the afflicted are evil, but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast. 16 Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it.
I lived so much of my life with the motto “the one who dies with the most toys wins.” I don’t know if I was winning, but I was surely trying with my ever growing list of stuff. That is how we are measured in society, by our material wealth and possessions. We strive to be outwardly rich, pursuing happiness in material gain. We are trying to fill a void in our hearts, fill a pain within us, with purchases that bring temporal satisfaction. The term “buy me some happy” is how we all have felt and dealt with a problem in our lives. We went out and bought anything that brought pleasure until the new wore off it, and then we focused on our next prize. It is a never ending cycle of emotion that brings the pain of debt, dwindling cash, and every problem that comes with ownership. There is nothing material in this world that we will take into eternity, the list is wiped clean. Solomon wrote of the vanity of overworking ourselves, and how it was left to someone else in the book of Ecclesiastes.

God has stripped me of so many of my material possessions in recent years, although I am still far rich by worldly standards. There is nothing material you will ever gain, that does not come with trouble. The trouble can be the financial investment, the time lost with family, the responsibility and problems that come with ownership, the worry of it, the time that could have been better spent on relationships that last, instead of possessions that don’t. That is the only thing that carries into eternity; relationships with your Savior, and the people you invest in. Sharing the Gospel with those who God places around you is how you invest eternally. If the Lord has blessed you financially, return that blessing to him financially by supporting churches and ministries. I read of Jacob’s vow, of his simple plea this morning after experiencing a heavenly vision. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” (Genesis 28) Do you see the simplicity of his request to God?

There is a peace that surpasses all worldly understanding to those who focus on eternity and not worldly wealth. Matthew Henry put it, “It is therefore far better, and more desirable, to have but a little of the world and to have it with a good conscience, to keep up communion with God, and enjoy him in it, and live by faith, than to have the greatest plenty and live without God in the world.” Seek God and pray for him to give you just enough, and to encourage those around you with the simple peace and pleasure that come with it. There is much peace in the simple life.