By Florida Senator John Grant, Retired
Week Fifty-One, 2019
Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Luke 12:15
How much money is enough money? For John D. Rockefeller the answer was “just a little bit more.” At the peak of his wealth, Rockefeller had a net worth of about 1% of the entire US economy. He owned 90% of all the oil & gas industry of his time. Compared to today’s rich guys, Rockefeller makes Bill Gates and Warren Buffett look like paupers. And yet he still wanted “just a little bit more.”
Before you can know how much is enough, you’ve got to define enough. It isn’t just an amount. It is also an attitude. Money is wonderful as a tool, but it’s terrible as a tyrant. And therein lies the difference. What is it that you want out of money and the possessions it buys?
As Dwight Short said, “When I pull into my driveway and spend more time looking at my neighbor’s new car than I do checking to make sure my garage door is open, you should understand envy.”
The decisions I’ve made in my personal life have helped me resist the temptations I face in my professional life. I was blessed early in my career and was given wise counsel to cap my income and live below my means. Money itself isn’t evil, but the love of it is the root of all kinds of evil. (1 Timothy 6:10)
Excess possessions rob us of time, money, energy, and focus. As the old proverb goes, “Those who buy what they do not need steal from themselves.” Excess possessions add stress, worry, and burden. As Randy Alcorn writes, “Every increased possession adds increased anxiety onto our lives.”
Our lives have become busy, hurried, rushed, and stressed because we own too much stuff! Consider this: Never in human history have individuals owned as much stuff as they do today.
But there is freedom in owning less—if only we could catch our breath long enough to take hold of it. Some of us have become so busy pursuing, accumulating, and caring for our things, we can’t even find the time to remove those that are no longer needed. How long have the shelves in your garage needed sorting? Or the clothes in your closet needed to be gone through?
Minimizing possessions takes work (especially if you have a lot to begin with). It takes effort and energy and an investment of time. And if both parents are working jobs to make ends meet, finding extra time to own less can be tough. It can be hard enough to minimize just one room of a house—much less an entire home. On the other hand, it is essential we find the time to reclaim our lives. Any time invested minimizing your possessions is never wasted.
Billions are spent each year convincing you to become greedy. You just need more and more. The Bible tells us to be content with less and less. Life will take on new meaning and contentment when we learn to be happy with what we have.
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SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES
COHABITATION:
For the first time in our history, more Americans have lived with a romantic partner than have married one. According to Pew Research Center’s new study, the number of those who have ever married has fallen from 60 percent in 2002 to 50 percent today, while the number who have cohabited without being married has grown from 54 percent to 59 percent.
The study also reports that 69 percent of Americans say it is acceptable for a couple to live together even if they don’t plan to get married. Sixteen percent agree with cohabiting if the couple plans to marry. Only 14 percent of us believe it is “never acceptable” for a couple to live together before marriage.
Scripture teaches that God created us as male and female (Genesis 1:27) and that he intends a man and woman to experience sexual union only in marriage (Genesis 2:24). Jesus clearly affirmed these biblical texts, then stated, “What, therefore; God has joined together, let not man separate”.(Matthew 19:6).
God’s word states that “each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband” (1 Corinthians 7:2–3). Scripture adds: “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous” (Hebrews 13:4).
How different would our culture be today if each of us remained chaste before marriage and faithful to our spouse within it? Imagine a world without pornography, prostitution, sex trafficking, and adultery.
This is the freedom and purity God intends for us. Jim Denison
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Every minute, your heart pumps about five quarts of blood through a system of blood vessels that’s over 60,000 miles long, according to the Cleveland Clinic. That translates to about 2,000 gallons of blood every day.
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Florida’s average student loan debt is nearly $35,000 with a statewide total of $76 billion.
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Welcome to the new Orwellian world where censorship is free speech and we respect the past by attempting to edit it.
No-privacy
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QUOTES YOU CAN USE
Lawmaker Calls Miscarried Babies a “Mess on a Napkin”
When people try to avoid suffering by sinning, they end up sinning their way into suffering. Lecrae Moore
When I pray, I am depending on God. When I don’t pray I am relying on myself. Dr. Ronnie Floyd
God invites each of us on a journey. Ken Whitten
If you don’t know what you have you are going to miss what you got. Pastor John Onwuchekwa
Don’t do it your way, do it Yahweh. Sol Pitchon
There is no book in the Bible that routs out more worldly views and conduct than Romans. Dr. Jim Smith
It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference. Tom Brokaw
Kill sin or sin will kill you. John Piper
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