Too Much

Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it~ 1^st Timothy 6:6-7

Until a few years ago, I would have described myself as someone who was generally pretty content with my lot in life. Then I did something that forced me to reevaluate the way I see myself. 

 I went shopping for a flat screen TV. I learned that I covet really big televisions.

  My husband was a little surprised to see his typically cautious, controlled wife become a matierlistic monster over something as trivial as a TV set. He was a really good sport about the whole thing until I began eyeing the eighty-inch models. He then politely pointed out that even if we could afford an eighty-inch TV, we didn’t have the wall space for it.

That experience taught me that there is something within all of us—no matter how content and controlled we think we are—that naturally gravitates towards excess and extravagance.

Some of the axioms that have become a part of our common cultural vocabulary do a pretty decent job of proving my point…

More is more.  

You can have it all!  

Bigger is better!  

You can never be too rich or too thin.  

He who dies with the most toys wins.

Sadly, none of the above sayings prove themselves to be true in light of real-life experiences….  

Oodles of lottery winners will tell you that sometimes more is just more trouble. There are some who thought they had it all, and discovered too late that they lost something precious to get it all.  If you have ever known someone trapped in the living hell of an eating disorder you know firsthand that it is possible be too thin. Bigger is not better if we’re discussing debt-to-income ratios with a banker, and he who dies with the most toys still dies.

 There is such a thing as too much. The Bible is packed with warnings regarding the perils of too much…

Talk~ Proverbs 20:19

Wine~ Proverbs 23:20

Pursuit of wealth~ Proverbs 23:4, Luke 12:15  

Self-confidence~ Psalms 36:2

Rich food~ Proverbs 23:19

Rest and relaxation~ Proverbs 24:32-34

Visiting~ Proverbs 25:17

Introspection and navel gazing ~ Proverbs 25:27

All of us naturally gravitate toward too much of something. For me it’s big screen televisions that lead to big bills and overindulgence in entertainment. For others, it’s conversation and corn dogs.

 Spiritual victory is about training ourselves to want more of the right things and less of the wrong ones. There are things we can never have too much of...

Peace~ Psalm 34:14, 2^nd Timothy 2:22, Hebrews 12:14 

Wisdom~ Proverbs 3:13, Proverbs 4:6, Proverbs 9:10, James 1:5

Righteousness~ Psalm 33:5, Proverbs 11:14, Romans 6:13, James 3:18  

Peace, wisdom and righteousness are superior to corn dogs and flat-screen TVs. Sadly, in this life better things are always harder to obtain and sustain. It takes no intentionality at all to be captured by too much of the wrong things. It’s in our DNA to embrace the stuff of life that ensnares our souls and sets us on the road to ruin. God cautions us against excess because too much feels good to our fleshly nature. Too much of anything that appeals to our carnal side steals our desire for the better things that God wants to give us and the joy that goes along with those better things.

It takes a deliberate effort on our part to develop a craving for the peace, wisdom and righteousness that God so desperately wants to see developed in His people. The effort begins with making the deliberate choice to let go of anything that is threatening to become too much in our lives.