Contentment

An Amish boy and his parents were visiting a mall. While the mother looked for cotton fabric for a new apron, the father and son stood around, amazed by almost everything they saw. They were especially amazed by two, shiny silver walls that could move apart and then slide back together again.

The boy asked, "What is that, father?" The father (never having seen an elevator) responded, "Son, I have never seen anything like this in my life. I don't know what it is."

"Could it be a time machine?" asked the boy. “I heard about this movie picture show where people leave the earth in shiny vehicles.”

"Praise the Lord", said the father. "There sure are miraculous things in the city."

While the boy and his father were watching with amazement, an old lady in a wheel chair rolled up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady rolled between them into a small room. The walls closed, and the boy and his father watched the small circular numbers above the walls light up. They continued to watch until the last number was reached, and then the numbers began to light in the reverse order.

Finally, the walls opened again and a gorgeous 24-year-old woman stepped out. The father, not taking his eyes off the young woman, said quietly to his son, "Go get your mother."

While this is a humorous story, it does illustrate the human condition, at least in this part of the world. We are rarely content. We want bigger...we want better...we want faster...we want more.

This past Sunday, my home church showed the first of a three part series that Dave Ramsey did concerning money. He had a lot to say about this subject. In fact, he said that contentment is so important, that it is the most powerful Biblical financial principle there is. More powerful than saving and even more powerful than giving.

I'm not saying that I agree or disagree with him on his ranking of this, but I will agree that it is incredibly important when it comes to our finances. I also believe it is a key ingredient in our spiritual health as well.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

Hebrews 13:5