Comedian Louis CK said, "Everything is amazing and nobody is happy." Yeah, yeah, it's part of a routine, but how true it is. Have you ever noticed? For instance, America has a real poverty problem. Well, real to those in it. But apparently the poorest 20% of Americans are richer than the average person in most European countries. Forbes reported that America's poor still live better than most of the rest of humanity. The Heritage Foundation reported that the average poor family in America has a refrigerator, at least one television, air conditioning, cable or satellite television, a cell phone, and an XBox.
Just an example. I'm not talking here about poverty. I'm talking about ingratitude. We are prone to complain about the things we don't have and think we should and the things we do have but aren't satisfied with. Our most common measure of what we think we should have is what others have. We live in a world full of wonder and beauty, but we rarely appreciate it. We have friends and family and rights and privileges and stuff ... lots of stuff ... and we're not grateful. It's our nature, and it's not the good side of our nature.
Paul wrote, "I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content" (Php 4:11). Imagine that! He wrote, "Godliness with contentment is great gain" (1 Tim 6:6). How many of us can say the same? How many of us find either godliness or contentment sufficient? Yet, we are told, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" (Eph 1:3). Our typical response seems to be a collective "Meh!" Is it any wonder that God's wrath includes our failure to give thanks (Rom 1:18-21)? How would your life change if you were a person of contentment?
4 comments:
Absolutely. From a worldwide standpoint, there is virtually zero poverty in the US. But there is a ton of dissatisfaction and ingratitude.
I frequently find myself needing to reorient my felt needs. I am always in need of reminding of the sufficiency of God.
Craig, yes, but my point was not that poverty doesn't exist. My point is that we have it FAR better than we realize and we are ungrateful ... on an ongoing basis.
David, thanks for the "felt needs" term. Always a problem.
Stan,
That was essentially my point as well. In the US, what constitutes poverty. is literally aspirational to 90% of the rest of the world. We live in a society that is increasingly (social media) built on comparison to others, and feeling like we deserve more than we have. This doesn't even take into account that the US is still one of the places where there is opportunity to significantly raise one's standard of living.
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