No Money Week: What’s a Moment Worth?

“Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him — for this is his lot.” (Ecclesiastes 5:18)

We’ve spent this whole week listening to the richest, wisest man who ever lived beat up on money. At least, that’s what it sounded like. Actually, he was beating up on money as a goal or money as an answer or money as a reason for getting out of bed in the morning.

nomoney_350But his conclusions today and tomorrow are almost as surprising as his complaints. He doesn’t tell us to be done with money, to take a vow of poverty. He doesn’t tell us—as Jesus told that one rich man—to sell all we have and give the money to the poor.

Instead, Solomon tells us to make a choice to be satisfied in whatever moment we find ourselves. Spend some of the money you have for food and eat the food. Be satisfied with the food. Go do your work, whatever that is today, even if it is very hard and life is very short. And be satisfied with doing it well. And let that be enough for right now.

Lower your expectations for money and notice what a satisfying moment this one can be. More tomorrow.

Think: How many of your moments do you spend feeling satisfied with what you have and what you’re doing? Do you think you can choose to be satisfied in any given moment, even if you don’t have everything you wish you had? How does being a Christian help make that even more possible?

Pray: Thank God for the moment you’re in right now, and ask him to help you to be satisfied with what he’s given you to do in this moment. Repeat.

Do: Spend the next few days noticing how often you choose to be satisfied with the moment you’re in and how often you reject satisfaction in the moment because you don’t have what you want.