Good Versus Best
Either/Or, Part 3
How much time do you spend thinking about the products in your life? How much time do you spend researching products you might purchase? How much time is devoted to the care and feeding of possessions in general?
For most of us, the sum of the answers to those three questions amounts to a considerable block of time.
Some of that is an inevitable consequence of the work we do. Someone who spends much of each day working on a laptop or desktop computer might be understandably devoted to their Mac since its functionality makes such a difference in their life (I can’t see why anyone would be devoted to a non-Mac machine).
For others, it might be the item that enables them to enjoy a loved pastime – your boat, or fishing rod, or the tennis racket or running shoes that incorporate the latest technology.
I am not setting this piece up as a killjoy, or to recommend that you take a vow of poverty. While some might sense a calling to radical simplicity, that is not the case for most of us. Paul wrote, “Everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Tim. 4:4). There is nothing wrong with enjoying good things, or with taking pleasure in developing discriminating tastes.
Of course, Paul is the same guy who wrote, “if we have food and drink, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap” (1 Tim. 6:8,9).
It seems to me that the line between enjoying good things and falling into temptation is crossed when we become enamored with things that, though good, are second-best. The purpose of life goes beyond enjoying good things. Our lives are meant to be purposeful; we are to “run with perseverance the race marked out for [us]” (Heb. 12:1). To me, this implies that we equip ourselves to run with endurance, we learn to discern the directional markers in our individual races, and we further learn to channel our energy into the race.
The biblical term often used for the kind of discipline I am talking about is self-control. This word has negative connotations for many of us, but biblical self-control is neither self-repression nor self-denial.
As the passage in Hebrews suggests, a truer picture of self-control is shown by the discipline exercised by an athlete preparing for competition. This metaphor permeates the New Testament. Paul writes:
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 1 Corinthians 9:24-25
The New American Standard Bible more literally translates verse 25 to read: “And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things.” It is the same word Peter uses for “self-control” in attributes of character he provides in 2 Peter 1.
In other words, self-control is how we focus all our energies on pursuing “the prize.”
It seems natural, when we think about exercising self-control to pursue God’s will, to focus on our sin. However, Christian training requires more of us than simply dealing with sin. In the passage from Hebrews 12 that we examined earlier, we are admonished, “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Heb. 12:1).
“And the sin.” Look at the grammatical form of this sentence. We all understand that sin creates a barrier between us and God and can entangle us as we seek to run our race. But there are other things that can hinder us, too. Things that are not sinful. Things that are good in themselves, but for us are second-best things that can hinder us from pursuing the best.
It’s not sinful for an athlete to eat an ice cream cone, but it may impede her ability to win the prize. Self-control is focused on the prize. Paul expressed it this way to the Philippian church: “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14).
I am in no way suggesting that we are to trudge joylessly through life, weighed down by grim purpose in all things and at all times. Change, rest, and variety are all good. Play is good. Laughter and fun are good. Without them we are not human.
The central question here, as in so many things, is: where are you striking the balance? Does the way that you use your time reflect the values you profess?
Here is where the love of money can be a trap. We put ever more time seeking a steadily diminishing pleasure in activities and possessions, like a drug addict who needs ever larger doses to achieve the same high. We are tempted to the pursuit of more, always more, and are trapped in an unending quest to complete our always-incomplete satisfaction.
We are immersed in a culture that is defined by this quest. If we examine ourselves, we are likely to see that we are not immune from its influence. Is this God’s best for you?
Jack Jr.’s new book, Becoming Yourself: A Perspective on Christian Character is now in print. You can order your copy HERE at our website
Excellent food for thought message, thank you. Moderation is one word that works for me. Also, impulse buying is not on my agenda. Hugs