When Life is Good, But You Want More

Jim Carrey once said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer.” 

I’m not sure we believe that, do we? We might raise our eyebrows and purse our lips at the seemingly true idea that the top of the mountain is actually a false summit, but we get right back to work on climbing the mountain. Sure, Jim Carrey’s good life didn’t satisfy, but mine will. 

If my kids get into that college, I’ll be okay.

If I get the house paid off, I’ll be okay.

If I can lose 15 more pounds, I’ll be okay.

If…

The problem is that contentment is not found in the satisfaction of if/then equations, but it’s found in knowing and savoring Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Contentment is, rather, finding joy in the now rather than the if. 

Some of us are pretty close to our if/then dreams. Some of us start our days on the summits of yesteryear. We dreamed of these days. We prayed for this time of life. We’ve worked hard to get here. But it’s not enough.

We just finished the book of Ecclesiastes, and The Preacher speaks to this issue in 12 chapters of industrial grade sobriety. He is not fluffy, and he does not mince words. He keeps saying life is vanity, vapor, fleeting, empty. The richest and most powerful man to live is, like Jim Carrey, warning us to turn back and stop climbing.

When life is good, you’ll still want more. Or maybe it’s not that at all. Maybe it’s not that you want more, but rather that your heart is made for a different kind of satisfaction.

Deuteronomy 6 tells us to love God with our whole heart. That our existence should be one of worship, of praise. What if instead of accumulating or conquering or proving yourself you were made to simply say thank you?

In heaven, the refrain is, “holy, holy, holy”. God is higher, other than, set apart, pure, resplendent in majesty. Seeing Him and ascribing to Him great worth is what we’re made for. 

You aren’t made for majesty; you’re made for worship. You aren’t made to bring heaven to earth; you are made to worship the One who will. You aren’t made to hoard the treasures of earth; you’re made to worship the Treasure of heaven. If you aren’t content, what you’re missing is not more of one certain thing but worship. 

The Preacher says life under the sun is vanity. There’s no amount of earthly pleasures or power that’ll actually make your soul full. He tried it, so he should know. But the good news is that life under heaven, the life we can experience in and through Christ, is full.