Proverbs 23:1-3
When you are invited to eat with a king, use your best manners. Don't go and stuff yourself! That would be just the same as cutting your throat. Don't be greedy for all of that fancy food! It may not be so tasty.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
When I was in high school, my parents scraped together enough money to buy me a used car. My parents both worked, and my mom also commuted nearly every day to UCA to attend classes toward her degree in education, so their vehicles were always in use. We needed a way for me to get myself and my sister and brother to school and back – and anywhere else we needed to go. So my dad found a little pale green Dodge Lancer that he thought would fill the bill.
I can’t recall the exact year of my Lancer, but it was probably between 1962 and 1965… and it was in sad shape. We talked about how to fix it up… a new coat of paint would surely help wonders. So I began dreaming of the paint color… a nice blue, or maybe even white. I went to band camp for two weeks, and when I returned, my dad had painted the car… the same ugly pale green as the original color. I was crushed. His reasoning was that it was cheaper to repaint the same color than to choose a new one. So for the next year or so until I married and went off to college, I was stuck with what we dubbed, “The Green Weenie.”
That awful car got us back and forth to school. It carried me over the roads and back to UCA the summer I married, so that I could get a jump start on college. It had a “three on the tree” (for you youngsters, that means it had a manual transmission, and I shifted three forward gears with a gear stick on the steering column), and some days it didn’t want to start. But it got good gas mileage and served as fairly reliable transportation.
Today, I could probably buy virtually any car I want (within reason)… yet my vehicle of choice is now ten years old and has very few miles. Every time I think about buying a nice, new, shiny vehicle, I think of those who would give anything just to have a “Green Weenie,” and I can’t bring myself to do it. I have good, safe, reliable transportation. I’ve owned a sports car – and rarely drove it. Just as it is with lots of thing, the “new” wore off. Getting the car I’d dreamed of owning was almost as exciting as actually owning it.
What does this mean for us as Christians? So often, we are struck by the flash and sizzle of “things.” It’s like going to an all-you-can-eat-buffet and being so enamored of the beautiful array of food that we pile our plate completely full before we get past the salad options. We went into the restaurant needing to feed our body and satisfy our hunger, but we ended up stuffing ourselves miserable. A “Green Weenie” soup and sandwich would have fully nourished us, but we thought we had to have more.
And so it is with God. Often we overlook the wonderful – and more than ample – gift He has given us in salvation through Jesus and our daily blessings and abundance. We want more. We want “stuff” – and lots of it! We want big houses, high-paying jobs, fame and fortune and a chance to “run with the big dogs.” We even want to grow our churches to a membership of thousands… and we don’t have a clue how to handle such wealth. We come away full and miserable… confused and frustrated.
Today, I challenge you to settle in and sit for a while. Consider what you have… the richness in which you already live. Ask yourself, “Are my basic needs met? Do I have more than enough? What am I doing with the excess? How am I serving God out of my abundance? Will more of anything really satisfy me or make life better – for me and others?” Humbly ask God to show you where you already have enough… and how to use what is left over for His glory. If He blesses you with a “buffet” in any area of your life… ask Him to help you handle the riches according to His will. Know when to say “When!”… and how to manage whatever God gives you.
©2012 Debbie Robus
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