Have you ever tried moving around with a lot of baggage, especially at an airport or train station? It’s quite cumbersome! Have you ever noticed how spacious show homes always feel? It’s because they’re very minimalist. In reality, once a family moves into a house with all their stuff, the house appears to be a lot smaller with a lot less space. The life lesson there is that we should perhaps try to minimise the “stuff” we have, so that we can be grateful for what we do have, rather than always yearning for more.
Pastor Jonny spoke to us this week about this, looking at Ecclesiastes 4:
4And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
5Fools fold their hands
and ruin themselves.
6Better one handful with tranquillity
than two handfuls with toil
and chasing after the wind.
7Again I saw something meaningless under the sun:
8There was a man all alone;
he had neither son nor brother.
There was no end to his toil,
yet his eyes were not content with his wealth.
“For whom am I toiling,” he asked,
“and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?”
This too is meaningless—
a miserable business!
(Ecclesiastes 4:4-8)
We cannot know for certain who the author of Ecclesiastes was, but all the evidence points towards it being King Solomon, a man who had more “stuff” than anyone else at that time, and would still be considered extremely prosperous by today’s standards too! Yet at the same time, Solomon was also considered the wisest man to have ever lived, with the book of Proverbs also being attributed to him as the author. We can therefore assume that Solomon had the track record of being able to balance having lots of “stuff” with great wisdom, so we should listen to what he had to say.
Less really is more
Each item in our possession costs more than we actually paid for it. As Christians, we are called to be good stewards of our possessions, and the art of stewarding costs time, effort, and sometime more money. We should be mindful that time is far more valuable than money, as we cannot get it back, so we should consider minimising our possessions in order to exchange that time for the things that really matter, such as our relationships with God, friends and family.
When is enough really enough?
As humans, we are naturally discontent with our circumstances, always striving for more, assuming we will be fully content once we achieve “more”. As adults, we strive continually for pay rises and promotions (forgetting the additional stress that comes with them), yet as teenagers, we thought that merely having a job would make us content. We should ask ourselves “when is enough really enough?”. Can we be totally content in our current circumstances? Is our striving for more actually going to cost us time spent with God, friends and family?
Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil
Verse 6 says that it’s better to have just one hand full and have peace and tranquility rather than have both hands full and be overloaded with work. Jesus said in Matthew16:26, “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”. If you overload yourself with stuff, or striving for more stuff, then you won’t have time to follow the most basic commandment: Love God and Love Neighbour.
We live in a world where people say that “one is good but two is better”, that we should never be content, and always strive for more. Is there anything you need to let go of? Do you understand when “enough is enough” in your life? This week, be praying to God to get clarity in our lives about what is truly essential.