Our wonderful free market economy brings with it an unhealthy insatiability. We need only to look at the lessons from those who have “made it” to bring us up short.

Dr. Avner Offer, professor of economic history at Oxford University has spent the last 20 years studying quality of life questions and has recently written a book called The Challenge of Affluence. In his book, Offer tracks the downside of wealth. Rather than bringing contentment, it seems to foster false expectations, stress, and anxiety. The drive to achieve financial goals creates permanently raised expectations, so that the wealthy forget how to enjoy the simpler things in life. They become acclimated to the “wow factor” with the closed deal or the newest acquisition. Gorging on the fruit of success, many of us forget to savour the taste. Our lives are lived in a vortex of goals and maximum achievement where anxiety and impatience rule.

[More:]

Dr. Offer, a fellow at All Souls College, speaks of the need to learn to be satisfied with our lot in life, choosing the important things rather than trying to have it all. There is a need to treasure time and patience. Excessive consumption is surrogate fulfillment and we need to enshrine a doctrine of ENOUGH into our lives.

Research by investment banker, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, reveals that although income levels have tripled since 1950, contentment level is basically unchanged. His research suggested that the emphasis should be on personal growth instead of monetary gain.

As Christians, I suggest we substitute the word obedience for personal growth. I had written the following thoughts to a group of Christian doctors:

Is Bigger Better? Affluence is a mixed blessing. It can make life easier through the surplus of money, but it can also demand great amounts of time and energy. The urgency of a materialistic lifestyle can stress you out by demanding most of your energy. We should be striving to have a practice driven by values and not by our lifestyle. God is very capable of leading a values- driven practice to the appropriate size that he can trust you with. It won’t necessarily be a multi-person million-dollar practice. Earthly wealth is only a small portion of genuine riches. Real wealth includes eternal riches, which you receive through faith in God. A good name is a more important measure of wealth than possessions. To really grow in this area we have to find His contentment. 1 Timothy 6:6 says, “But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied with contentment.” Contentment is knowing God’s plan for your life, having the conviction to live it, and believing that God’s peace is greater than the world’s problems. Contentment comes from learning to view life through an eternal prism. One day Jesus will split the Eastern sky and come for His own. It will not matter how much money we have in our mutual fund or how many bedrooms we have in our homes. The temporary satisfaction we have in vacations and nice cars will be gone. Only what is done for the cause of Christ will matter. Jim Elliot, a missionary martyred in the ‘50s, said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

I currently have a very good friend who is stuck on this “hedonic treadmill”. This term relates to the tendency for a person's economic expectations and desires to rise at the same rate as his or her income, resulting in no net gain of satisfaction or happiness. “Doug” is a very successful real estate investor in his mid-sixties. Though he is a committed Christian, he struggles constantly with expectations of the next “big deal”. He is always talking about the latest wealth book he has read. He is generous with his time and money, but really struggles to find peace with the term ENOUGH. Pray with me that “Doug” will learn how to reduce expectations and learn that true peace isn’t dependent on monetary wealth.

Blessings,

Wendell

Comments:

Comments are closed for this post.