The first day of September I saw in the Walmart, and the Home Depot of all places, that Halloween stuff was out; and I don’t mean like a little hint of Halloween. I mean: full-blown-unapologetic-in-your-face-ness reminder that (unfortunately) the 2024 holiday season is now upon us!
Now I don’t know if it’s because I’m about to be in my mid-fifties, or maybe because I’m just kinda old-fashioned, but I think that all of this is pretty messed up!
It used to be that people we’re just happy and excited to be able to celebrate the fact that it was the changing of the seasons for no other reason other than…that it was the changing of the seasons! But now it seems that culture is making sure to “dis” people; to dis-appoint them; to dis-courage them; to dis-satisfy them; and finally, to dis-content them.
So I’m pleading with us all to return back to a simpler time to learn to content with what we have.
Famous last words, right?
New & Improved…?
I’ve now reached the age where I take pride in how “not new” my stuff is—because that means that I have saved money! I’m proud to say that I’m typing this rant on a laptop from 2009 (and yes, that’s truly ancient in laptop years). I drive a very used, high-mileage, 2006 Honda CR-V, and, I keep re-using my glasses frames, and finally, I have regular and consistent client appointments on my Samsung Galaxy S8—yes, they’re all that old and, like their owner, still going strong!
I know what you’re thinking, too: Omar, don’t you want the latest and greatest new (fill in the blank)? To answer your question, honestly speaking, if I could get the newest and latest and greatest thingee for free I totally would; but since I don’t live in Fantasyland at Disney World, no thanks. I’m perfectly contented with my old—paid for—stuff.
Honestly speaking, I don’t suspect that I’m ever going to see something so stupendously amazing that I’m going to lose my mind planning and plotting about how I can try to get it. How can I be so certain? I hear your question. Simply put, because, honestly, there’s really not anything new! Well, those aren’t my words; they’re Solomon’s. Solomon, the wisest person who ever lived (1 Kings 3:12), recognized our human inclination to be constantly drawn to the new and improved, and these were his observations:
Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea. Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now (Ecclesiastes 3:4-11, NLT).
Listen to Your Heart!
So many today are driven and ruled by emotion and feelings, not thinking, and logic. In fact, when the majority of people want to have fun, forget their troubles, and let off some steam, they don’t naturally think about doing some thinking. No! They think about…not thinking. They think about and search out environments where they can turn off their thinking and be ruled by their feelings! Places like Disney World, Universal Studios, or Six Flags are all called? That’s right amusement parks. And when you break down that word: “amusement” what you find is that it literally means to divert or cease from thinking. So when you decide to go to an amusement park, or to get lost in your favorite video game, or doing some mindless shopping for stuff you don’t need, or watching Netflix or Amazon or whatever you binge, what you’re actually doing is turning off your thinking and turning on your feeling.
Weak-Willed Humans
Jesus designed and created us, so when He gives us insight into us, we should really pay attention. Jesus reminds us—warns us, really–of this simple fact: “ ‘Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!’ ” (Matthew 26:41, NLT)
It might shock you to learn that the very second human ever created, when tempted, gave in to it, but more shocking is the fact that the Bible records what she was thinking and feeling when she made the decision. Take a read and tell me if you can’t empathize: “[the serpent said] ‘God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.’ The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it” (Genesis 3: 5, 6, NLT).
Did you catch it? She started to think with her logic, but then the serpent diverted her thinking and focused on the lie that God was lying to them and holding out on them (feeling of resentment), and she began to think about how it would make her feel when she could be just like God, (feeling of pride). Then she noticed that the tree was beautiful (feeling of vanity) and the fruit looked delicious (feeling lied to), and she wanted the wisdom (feeling of selfishness). This is literally the first instance of FOMO! And the consequences were disastrous!
This shouldn’t surprise us, as anytime a human being gets into an argument with their heart, it begins with a whisper, but always ends with shouting—and the red-faced rascal will always be our hearts! Don’t forget what God reminds us of: “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9, NLT).
“It’s All About Me!”
We live in a culture that says “It’s all about me!” That listening to your heart is the only way to live your life. And that’s what the marketers and creators of the latest and greatest…you name it, are all hoping that you will focus on. Realistically speaking you have to realize that “ . . . the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world” (1 John 2:16, NLT).
So now that we know that we are weak-willed, and that we are prone to listen to our hearts, what can we do about it? I mean, is there any hope for us? No, no without Christ. I know that this perspective flies in the face of this culture’s humanistic mantra of: “what the mind can conceive the will can achieve,” but I’ve been alive long enough to see the results of this outlook—and it’s not pretty. In fact, once again, God says it best:
So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God (Romans 8:6-14, NLT).
A New Affection
Here’s the bottom line: we can only overcome our hearts if we are plugged into a constant power source that’s more powerful than the power and pull of our own hearts. In 1861 Scottish minister, Thomas Chalmers, wrote a powerful book called The Expulsive Power of a New Affection, where he clearly lays out the argument that the only thing that will get rid of the sin in our lives is loving Jesus more than our sin. Basically we can’t choose to calmly get rid of sin—it has to be violently expelled from us! The Apostle Paul agrees with this perspective; check out how he said it: “ . . . But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live” (Romans 8:13b, NLT).
Choosing to Be Content
So, then how do we put to death the deeds of our sinful nature? Well, the only way I know to do it is to choose to be content.
This is a simple fix, but it’s definitely not easy to do.
But, what if you actually just decided to continue to flip the script and simply be contented in God. I’m not talking about choosing to live recklessly: all musty, crusty, and dusty…all jacked up, and broken down, with holes in your clothes, sleep in your eyes, and cornflakes in your hair. Clearly that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m not talking about living like a monk all by yourself and acting like nothing in the world matters and you don’t have any interest or needs. But I also don’t think it’s healthy for someone to be so wired in to what’s happening in the world that they’re aware of and covetous about the latest and greatest gadgets, either.
God wants us to have balance in our lives. That’s the only way that we can ever have any sort of peace. To that end, in the “Additional Resources” section I included a link to the twenty-five most common scriptures related to contentment. I want to strongly recommend that you take some time to read and review and meditate upon all of them—and even consider writing several of them down in a place where you can daily review them.
The Apostle Paul, writing from prison of all places figured this out. This is from a letter he wrote to some Christians: “How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:10-13, NLT).
Learning to Be Content
I find it interesting that Paul was brutally honest in his letter (from prison, remember!), that he admitted that the only reason why he was content was because he had learned to such. Translation: contentment won’t come naturally and we’ll have to work at being and remaining content. So the question is: how can we get and remain content? Well, the easy answer is that we have to love God and love others more than we love ourselves. Basically, we have to get outside of ourselves. Jesus put it like this: “ ‘Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments’ ” (Matthew 22:36-40, NLT).
So this holiday season, instead of asking yourself what you’d like to put on your Christmas list, instead, make a Christmas list of people or organizations you’d like to serve. I promise you that you’ll quickly find that your interest and focus on the latest and greatest…whatever will quickly lose it’s power and pull over your heart.
This holiday season choose to be content. Choose to focus on loving God and loving others by serving them. That’s truly the gift that keeps on giving all year round.
Additional Resources
Living a Different Kind of Life
