Comfortable – a Heart Issue?

Today I had the opportunity to meet with an estate attorney. He said, “I don’t want to make so much money that I end up leaving an estate to my kids. I just want to make enough so I have some in the bank and am able to provide for as many kids as I have, maybe 4 or 5.” But it was the look he gave me after he said it that said it all. It was that quizzical look wondering if I approve or disprove of his rejection of outright greed. He went on later to say that he just wanted to be “comfortable.”
It’s a question of the heart really. I think of the man that bought a million dollar home. When he found out his acquaintance bought a 2.4 million dollar home he was upset decrying the purchase as excessive and wasteful only for him to purchase a second 1.8 million dollar home after he received an inheritance.
The things we care about most often are the same things we play mind games to prove to ourselves it doesn’t have a stronghold in our lives. Like a man who really enjoys food rationalizing to himself that he can eat exquisite meals so long as he only spends so much judging both the one who spends more for delicacies and the one who cares little for what he consumes. What we think about and what we believe really do define us.
I couldn’t help sharing with the attorney that God may not be calling him to live comfortably and despite his desire to run a low overhead law practice God may actually call him to provide employment to another because he has the means to do so. So often we do not ask God what He would have us do or see the responsibility we have as a steward of God’s gifts. Can you provide someone a job but avoid it because it involves delegation or may bring into question your organization’s image or competence? Perhaps you should allow gleaning in your business as a blessing to those willing to work. What is that one thing that if a friend asked to borrow it you really would be upset if it came back broken? These kinds of questions may help you pinpoint those things that are holding an inordinate strain in your life and reveal what you treasure. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Luke).