Scripture
“When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you… And put a knife to your throat if you are a person of great appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for it is deceptive food.
Do not weary yourself to gain wealth; Stop dwelling on it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.”
PROVERBS 23: 1-5
Quotes/Color
“To be satisfied with little is difficult. To be satisfied with much is impossible.”
Wendell Berry
“Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.”
Ben Franklin
“All men are burdened with more desires than they can gratify.”
The Richest Man in Babylon
Context
I love this passage. How is it that Proverbs was written a couple of thousand years ago and it still somehow perfectly encapsulates comparison culture today?
I can tell you. Because comparison culture is part of human nature. It always has been. It will always, always be a temptation to look at people around you and let their perceptions guide your life.
I love this passage because the writer advises you to be very very cautious around luxuries that other people may have. He acknowledges the danger, literally, in coveting what you cannot have… or rather, what you should acknowledge that you cannot have… but often cave into because of envy.
The Proverbs writer essentially says, “Listen, if you have an appetite for nice things (which you do)… and you’re in the company of kings (people who have stuff that you envy)… you are better off holding a knife to your throat to show some sort of restraint. Because otherwise, you might just lunge forward and try to get what they have, whether it’s within your means or not.”
Aren’t the quotes above so good? Some of my favorites.
“To be satisfied with little is difficult. To be satisfied with much is impossible.”
Wendell Berry
“All men are burdened with more desires than they can gratify.”
The Richest Man in Babylon
Your desires are insatiable. Insistent. Ravenous. Urgent… Unsatisfiable.
Get everything you want in the world and it will be nice for a moment… But sit yourself down with someone who’s got it just a bit better than you and you’ll always find your appetite grow. You’ll grow green with envy and you won’t be satisfied until you join the kings’ company.
Application
The application here is to not make decisions based on what others are doing – period. Their decisions are not necessarily right for your life. Their decisions might not even be right for their own lives.
Reign in Your Appetite – Christians should not be greedy people. They’ve been showered with God’s gift of eternal life. They don’t have much to prove outside of that. But yet, our desires still always outstrip our present possessions. We can’t shake that about our human nature. So how are we to get our appetites under control?
Answered with a question – how would you get your actual appetite for food under control if you knew you liked to eat too much?
-
- Food analogy: Get some friends that like to work out.
- Real translation: Surround yourself with people who are not impressed by you and your things and not impressed by others and their things.
- Food analogy: Don’t get ice cream at the store.
- Real translation: Quit feeding the beast. If you’ve got an appetite for status/wealth, quit showing up at the mall.
- Food analogy: Get some new recipe books.
- Real translation: Fill your mind with better ingredients. If all you consume is consumerism, it’s what you’re going to get. If all you consume is gratitude to God above, you’ll certainly get a lot more of it instead.
- Food analogy: Get some friends that like to work out.
Do not look at lives around you for inspiration on how to live your own. That is no way to live your life. You’ll find no shortage of things you want to imitate/have for yourself.
“Stop dwelling on it.” (vs. 3). Reign in your desires. And instead practice gratitude and simplicity.
Something to Chew On:
- Do other people’s lives guide your decisions? Do you buy things just because you see others have them? Do you make certain life choices just because others have done the same and you want a slice of what you see?
- What is preventing you from reining in your appetite for someone else’s life/someone else’s things/someone else’s car/someone else’s position/someone else’s relationship? Do you have safeguards? Are you instead turning to God to quell this insatiable appetite?
GreatValue Proverb:
“To be satisfied with little is difficult. To be satisfied with much is impossible.” – Wendell Berry
Hey people!!!!!
Good mood and good luck to everyone!!!!!