Isaiah 55:2 “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy?”
When is enough? John Bogle wrote on contentment: “At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, Kurt Vonnegut informs his pal, Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch-22 over its whole history. Heller responds, ‘Yes, but I have something he will never have… enough.’”
Material things simply cannot fill our aching void, rather they leave us wanting more. Nicky Gumbel elaborates: “Elvis Presley in his heyday grossed $100 million in 2 years of stardom. He had three jets, two Cadillacs, a Rolls Royce, a Lincoln Continental, Buick and Chrysler station wagons, a jeep, a dune buggy, a converted bus and 3 motor cycles. His favourite car was his 1960 Cadillac limousine. The top was covered with pearl-white naugahyde. The body was sprayed in 40 coats of specially prepared paint which included crushed diamonds and fish scales. Nearly all the metal trim was plated with 18 carat gold. Inside the car were 2 gold plated telephones, a gold vanity case containing a gold electric razor and gold hair clippers, an electric show buffer, a gold-plated TV, a record player, an amplifier, air-conditioning and a refrigerator. He had everything. Yet he was unfulfilled.”
God offers an alternative to us through the prophet Isaiah. Instead of spending money “on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy”, “come to me” (v3). Then our “soul will delight in the richest of fare” (v2). The average Westerner is bombarded by 3,000 adverts every day. Each one is screaming that you don’t have enough, that you are inadequate without what they are offering you, that you are lacking just one more piece to complete the puzzle. Most of them are lies from the pit of hell. Choose instead to live content in Jesus. He satisfies. That in itself will challenge others around you.
Thank you Lord, that in you I have enough. Amen!
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