...give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.
~My father's prayer from the sayings of Agur recorded in Proverbs chapter 30
Growing up my dad would periodically tell us that his prayer was to have just enough and not too much. To be honest, as a teenager this seemed like shooting for mediocrity. Ah, how nice to no longer be a teen.
As I grow older and observe the world around me and observe the role of money in the world, I think I'm going to have to agree with my dad. Actual poverty is a grinding, difficult state (different from voluntary simplicity). And actual wealth guarantees nothing. I have directly observed that the rich don't always stay rich. The rich are not necessarily happier, and the children of the wealthy are not protected from being screw ups.
So what's the middle road? Well, I don't think it's an income level. Instead it's a heart thing. In Jesus' famous Sermon on the Mount, he instructs people to not store up treasure for themselves on earth but in heaven because "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Growing up, my brothers and I thought we were on the lower end of the money totem pole with our thrift store clothes, no Nintendo, and the careful way my mom bought groceries. But as an adult looking back, I see that my parents made a conscious choice to invest in things greater than "treasures on earth". Even when their income was small, my parents sacrificially supported their own parents, their local church, missionaries abroad, and us their kids. We didn't have new clothes, but we did have a meaningful Christian education for the first 8 years.
Contentment in our material life is a heart issue that's independent of what we own. The question we have to ask is who are we living for? Are we looking out for ourselves or are we "seek[ing] first the kingdom of God"?
I have a number of wealthy uncles, but one stands out. He's literally the millionaire next door with his Honda Accord, threadbare undershirts, and furniture not quite old enough to be retro. His latest venture? Going to seminary and becoming a pastor for a church an hour from his home because there's a Chinese community that needs one. While pastoring might be his swan song, he's lived a lifetime consistently serving others even in the busy years of growing his company.
Living with these examples, N and I are conscious that we have choices too. Where are we storing our treasures? Are we seeking God's kingdom first? So far we've come up with a few lines of defense in a world of unsatiable wants. First, we give unemotionally. We pray and then we lop off a percentage of every paycheck for our church and missionaries around the world. This amount increases with every pay raise. Second, we shun advertising/window shopping. I don't let the stuff in my inbox and N keeps it out of our mailbox. Third, we don't prematurely retire things that are still working. We've got cars, appliances, and computers that are getting long in the tooth, but we keep them running and are saving for when they do die.
So, dear reader, what's it like for you? How do you get to just enough and not too much?
