Buying stuff and contentment…
Feb 8th, 2010 by ljkim
We started talking about financial contentment yesterday. This is such a wild idea in our society that it can be hard to imagine what it means. Now there’s a tendency to want to soften it up so that it seems less contrary to our society – I think that’s the wrong approach. Instead we need to develop our imagination for what God is suggesting. So if you were totally content financially and in terms of material possessions, how would that affect the stuff you buy?
Put simply I think it means you don’t feel like you “just have to have” things, other than the things you literally have-to have. It means there will often be nice things that you can afford, but you won’t buy. Why wouldn’t you buy something nice if you could afford it? Because you are actually content with what you have. Because you know that happiness does not come from possessions. Because you don’t literally need it at the moment.
When you DO buy things, contentment usually means you won’t buy the most expensive thing you can afford, but something that is considerably less that can do the job. Why? Because you’re actually content with what you have, but you need this for some purpose, and can afford it, but you know that happiness does not come from any kind of possession.
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