Prosperity
I landed this morning with reading some of Solomon's wisdom, and it got me thinking. Namely, I was reading through some of the things he wrote in Ecclesiastes about wealth and prosperity...
Whoever loves money never has money enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.
This too is meaningless. - Eccl. 5:10
The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
whether he eats little or much,
but the abundance of a rich man
permits him no sleep.- Eccl. 5:12
Now I realized that is good and proper for a man eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him - for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work - this is a gift of God. - Eccl 5:18-19
I also liked what he wrote in "chapter 6," but I won't quote it here because it is a little long for blog.
What was interesting to read, and note, was the apparent correlation that Solomon sees between wealth and rest/enjoyment. That in his observation of human beings and his own life, that it seems to be an inverse relationship... the more I have, the more stressed out I am, the more I worry, the less I rest. In other words, to quote the great Mick Jagger in regards to prosperity, "I can't get no satisfaction."
This is so true of our own culture... we are so prosperous as a people (go to a foreign country if you need any proof of that... there's one south of us in which people are clamoring to get over here) and this prosperity is not really causing us to relax very much... especially since the news items of the day are 1.) the economy, 2.) the housing crisis, 3.) gas/oil prices, and 4.) inflation... with all of peoples' energy in this election year screaming at John McCain and Barak Obama: HOW ARE YOU GOING TO FIX THIS????
What's been interesting to notice over the past 8 years is how our desire for more has been manifested in our country, and perhaps how it's causing some of the problems we see now. Corporations export their wealth and intellectual property to foreign countries in search of cheaper labor to pad the bottom line, at the expense of blue collar workers in the States and perhaps our own competitveness. Individuals that aren't seeing their income rise but want to "keep up with the Jones's" max out their rising credit card balances and take out equity loans on their homes... which may have been purchased with an aggressive no-money down loan because the housing market was seen as the new "get rich quick" scheme. We continue to be addicted to oil while fighting a war in the region of the country where we get a lot of it, and in the meantime one of the countries we export our prosperity to (they have done a fairly good job of managing their economy, though... so let's give them some credit) is starting to consume more and more of this resource. And in the meantime, now that the house is coming on hard times, people are getting nervous.
I think that, especially in today's times where there's a little bit of skepticism about the economy, Solomon's conclusion that it's not what you have, but whether you enjoy what you have and the life God has given to you... is especially important. No matter where we are, are we resting in God's goodness or are we striving? I personally want to be resting more... it's so easy to get caught up in the rat race and lose the eternal perspective. I don't want to lose that! After all, there's more to this life than stuff, and the most important of those the economy cannot take away.
Thoughts from the coffee cup this morning.
chris <><
Whoever loves money never has money enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.
This too is meaningless. - Eccl. 5:10
The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
whether he eats little or much,
but the abundance of a rich man
permits him no sleep.- Eccl. 5:12
Now I realized that is good and proper for a man eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him - for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work - this is a gift of God. - Eccl 5:18-19
I also liked what he wrote in "chapter 6," but I won't quote it here because it is a little long for blog.
What was interesting to read, and note, was the apparent correlation that Solomon sees between wealth and rest/enjoyment. That in his observation of human beings and his own life, that it seems to be an inverse relationship... the more I have, the more stressed out I am, the more I worry, the less I rest. In other words, to quote the great Mick Jagger in regards to prosperity, "I can't get no satisfaction."
This is so true of our own culture... we are so prosperous as a people (go to a foreign country if you need any proof of that... there's one south of us in which people are clamoring to get over here) and this prosperity is not really causing us to relax very much... especially since the news items of the day are 1.) the economy, 2.) the housing crisis, 3.) gas/oil prices, and 4.) inflation... with all of peoples' energy in this election year screaming at John McCain and Barak Obama: HOW ARE YOU GOING TO FIX THIS????
What's been interesting to notice over the past 8 years is how our desire for more has been manifested in our country, and perhaps how it's causing some of the problems we see now. Corporations export their wealth and intellectual property to foreign countries in search of cheaper labor to pad the bottom line, at the expense of blue collar workers in the States and perhaps our own competitveness. Individuals that aren't seeing their income rise but want to "keep up with the Jones's" max out their rising credit card balances and take out equity loans on their homes... which may have been purchased with an aggressive no-money down loan because the housing market was seen as the new "get rich quick" scheme. We continue to be addicted to oil while fighting a war in the region of the country where we get a lot of it, and in the meantime one of the countries we export our prosperity to (they have done a fairly good job of managing their economy, though... so let's give them some credit) is starting to consume more and more of this resource. And in the meantime, now that the house is coming on hard times, people are getting nervous.
I think that, especially in today's times where there's a little bit of skepticism about the economy, Solomon's conclusion that it's not what you have, but whether you enjoy what you have and the life God has given to you... is especially important. No matter where we are, are we resting in God's goodness or are we striving? I personally want to be resting more... it's so easy to get caught up in the rat race and lose the eternal perspective. I don't want to lose that! After all, there's more to this life than stuff, and the most important of those the economy cannot take away.
Thoughts from the coffee cup this morning.
chris <><
Comments