Daily Devotional

Have you ever heard the phrase: “keeping up with the Jones’s”? The idea is that if your neighbor or friend or peer has something, you feel the need to have that something as well, or at least equivalent to it, or something even better. It’s like a materialistic competition between you and those around you. It seems very natural here in America with our capitalistic way of living, but I assure you that it is not unique to America. Jealousy and covetousness are part of our sin nature and so it is natural for us to want what someone else has. In fact the most raw form of this is watching a small child not wanting to play with a toy, until suddenly his or her playmate begins playing with it, and suddenly now they must have it, and not having it, is world-ending, in their mind.

Jesus reminds us in this passage that our life is not about collecting stuff this side of Heaven. We are told money can’t buy happiness, and I would suggest that it actually can, but only temporary and ultimately hollow happiness. You see anything you buy today will eventually fall out of your favor. You will grow bored with it, it will lose its luster, it won’t be as useful, or as fun, or as cool, or it will degrade, break, or otherwise become unusable. Cars are really good examples of this, new cars with all the latest bells and whistles cost thousands of dollars, and for a few years can be really nice and cool, but look at a really high end car from the 80s or 90s and the lack of a touch screen, dashboard with harsh right angles, and physical knobs and buttons will make you wonder why anyone would have ever bought that thing. But in its day, the stereo was banging, the style of the dash was modern, and the car was worth a lot of money.

The point here is stuff is perishable and fleeting, and if your end goal is to acquire as much good stuff as you can, it's a never ending sisyphean task that can never be fulfilled. In contrast Jesus offers us a true purpose and true source of happiness. When we focus on Christ the money and stuff we naturally gravitate towards become less important in the light of His glory and grace. Jesus warned us not to store up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, but to store up for ourselves treasures in Heaven, and where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. All the things we attain here on earth for us will ultimately be meaningless, you can’t take it with you when you die. Only Jesus offers something lasting and eternal. Keep your focus on Him and not what your neighbor has that you don’t. You’ll be happier for it.

New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.