Enough Is Enough

“Enough Is Enough” Luke 12:13-21, Matthew 6:19-21 TWO BILLION DOLLARS! Recently, the largest jackpot in lottery history reached an astounding, incomprehensible, unfathomable two billion dollars! How does one even begin to wrap their brain around how much money this is? AND payable on one winning ticket! One lucky ticket holder in California went to bed one night and woke up the next day a billionaire. Lucky, did I say? Not so sure. I, for one, happen to think this amount of money could potentially ruin a person. Unless, perhaps, they choose to donate the majority of the money. As Christians, we know it’s always better to give than to receive, right? “May be fun to see if the money could ruin me!” I’ve heard many say. Well, let's think about it for a minute (or have you already?). Cash payout option after taxes on the two billion dollars was estimated at 933 million. Let's start there. In fact, right off the top let’s take off ten percent and donate. That takes care of 93 million. (And I have to ask just where and how is the one billion taken out in taxes by the government spent? What are these governing agencies doing with an extra billion bucks? Hhhhmmmm.) Anyway, after donating ten percent, we have roughly 840 or so million dollars left. Let's say we take care of 100 friends and family members, giving them a million dollars each. Oh heck, let’s take care of 200 family members and friends. If one doesn't have 200 family members and friends, they can just stand in the parking lot and hand out money. No worries. You’ll have lots of new friends!! So, 640 or so million dollars. Let’s donate more. We have more than enough! Fill the food banks. Take everyone on a vacation. Shelter the homeless. Set up bank accounts for family and friends in the event they blow the million dollars we gave them. Donate more. Set up trust funds for all future generations in your family. Don’t forget yourself. How much do you want to put away? How much out of the hundreds of millions of dollars left is “enough” to satisfy your needs and wants? Needs and wants. At charge conference last week , I heard the district superintendent talk about how we need to be able to differentiate between our “needs” and our “wants” and how many times we try to blend the two into one. This got me thinking. A “want” is defined as “to have a desire to possess or do (something). A “need” can be defined as “to require (something) because it is essential or very important.” Two words with clearly very different meanings. “Enough,” on the other hand, can be defined as “as much or as many as required.” On one hand it sounds very simple and on the other it appears quite complicated. Why is this? I believe our D.S. was onto something. We must identify and clarify what in our life justifies a want and/or a need. For instance, a new car can be a want (desire to possess) and most certainly a need (essential and important). It becomes tricky when we break it down further and ask ourselves this: What car is “enough” to satisfy our want and need? You may WANT a 50K car but only NEED a 25K car. See the picture here? Now, I am not throwing under the bus anyone desiring an expensive car. This is simply an analogy to help us understand the importance in identifying the difference between wants, needs and, more importantly, when is enough ... enough? It is no surprise we live in a culture of extra and extreme. Bigger is better. More is, well, more. (Gone is the notion that less is more; that went out the window some time ago.) Here’s a thought: Is it possible the owner of the two billion dollar ticket ends up destitute? In many documentaries, lottery winners are unhappier than they were before they won. The winners state they don’t recall how, when, or where the money went! They feel as if they had become different people altogether. We may ask ourselves, “How can this even happen?” We may even be so bold as to say “this would NEVER happen to me. I would certainly continue to be the same person I am doing the same things I always do.” Really? If we were holding the winning ticket, would we still be sitting here today? Here and now in this church? Maybe. Maybe not. When and why is “enough not enough” anymore? Chances are you’ve encountered someone (usually our elder) that said something like this, “If I was poor growing up, I never knew it! What we lacked in ‘money and things,’ we made up for in love.” Isn’t this so true? Many in our families talked about the things they cherished growing up, even laughing at some of the ways they had to improvise to get by. (Didn’t we all have bread bags as waterproof liners in our snow boots? I bet none of our children, however, had to do this!) My grandmother would tell me she felt her family was closer due to the things they lacked. I never recall the stories focusing on the wants, but more so the blessings. My father would tell me every Christmas about the toy dump truck he received one year when he was about five or six. Times were pretty tough, he said, but how he felt lucky to receive that truck. His one and only gift. He was too happy to be focused on any other desires. He said he played with it all day long. Dolly Parton and the late Loretta Lynn come to mind. Their songs of being poor, but rich at the same time. Dolly’s “coat of many colors” lovingly made by her mother. The coat that caused her to be ridiculed at school but at the same time made her feel warm, secure and loved. Why are some so content to have so little? Simple. They feel they have all they need. Sure, they have wants; but their needs are met. And that is enough for them. Genesis. God, in His infinite goodness, created a lush paradise for the first two humans. He provided for their every need. At some point, though, it wasn't enough. Lured by the promise to know “more,” Eve ate of the forbidden tree. God gave Adam and Eve so much yet, in one moment, they both forgot they had been quite content and wanting for nothing. It wasn’t enough. I came across something recently titled “The Grace of Being Content.” Mainly, it discussed how God does not want us to covet what others have. The author went on to state as well, “We Christians, especially in an affluent society such as ours, all too easily fall into the trap of being ‘possessed by our possessions.’” As well, the article reminds us that God has promised to supply all of our needs (Philippians 4:19). The writer reminds us all to “lay up our treasures in Heaven” (Matthew 6). Luke 12 tells us “for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” In short, our possessions can become our obsessions. So, just what are we obsessed with? We could certainly all obsess more about spreading the love of Christ. The work of the Holy Spirit. Kindness, compassion and love for our neighbor. Peace. Recently, I started looking around my house. REALLY looking around. Collections of things I once thought were so important to me. Things I couldn’t bear to live without. An entire display of carousel horses that once brought me so much joy now displayed with a few layers of dust. Oh, they are still nice to look at but, like many folks , I have decided the older I get, the more I long for simpler, more meaningful things in my life. True, simple joys. Family and friends. Dinners together. Reading more. Nature. The little things. As today’s Bible verses point out, the man-made things we invest our hope, faith and trust in fade over time and ultimately disappoint. They lose their luster. They tarnish. They are not eternal. The following was taken from Wealth with God by James Baker: “God is not the God of just enough. He never has been. He is the God who is ‘extreme.’ He created too much food to feed the multitudes but was not wasteful-the disciples picked it up. The miraculous catch of fish sunk the boat. How many stars and galaxies do we need?” (Thank You, God, for being “extra” with the stars.) And my favorite, “He gave us ABUNDANT life, not scarce life.” It closes with this wonderful thought on prosperity, “You have more than enough to fulfill every divine assignment God has for you, and ENOUGH left over to help others fulfill THEIRS.” Let us remember we were created out of love for God to love us (1 John 4:19), but He does not NEED us. We NEED Him. I can’t help but think, though, that God desires for us to WANT Him as well. After all, we were created with free will. He could have created us to solely worship and love Him, no questions asked. But He didn’t. He lets us choose. He chose us. Why isn’t it enough for us to choose Him at times? He is enough. His strength is enough. His mercy and grace are enough. His love is enough. And, His Son is enough. What Christ did for us was more than enough. What more could we possibly need or want. “When you have nothing left but God, you have more than enough to start over again.” (Mother Theresa) Janet