Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for He has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Hebrews 13:5, ESV

One of my favorite cartoon strips is Calvin and Hobbes, featuring a boy named Calvin and his best friend, a tiger named Hobbes. In one scene we find the two observing a falling star. They both make a wish upon the star and Calvin tells Hobbes that his wish was something along the lines of great wealth and becoming the supreme ruler of the the universe. He then asks his friend what he wished for, to which Hobbes replies, "A peanut butter and jelly sandwich." Calvin is incredulous and thoroughly berates his friend for blowing his chance with such a stupid wish.

In the last panel we see Hobbes contentedly munching on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, while Calvin is "stewing" in his discontent. Hobbes then utters the classic line, "I got what I wished for."

So why am I talking about a silly cartoon, and especially one with such a seemingly ridiculous ending at that? I hope that the answer is somewhat obvious, for in this fictional "slice of life" moment, we have a microcosm of what so many of us seem to be missing. It is not power and wealth or even fame that will give us true contentment in life. It is the satisfaction that we take in the small and simple pleasures that make up our lives. And for Christians, this means that we take these satisfactions as part of our daily service to God and Christ.

We don't need to be scrambling for things that will make us great, nor do we need to seek after things that we mistakenly believe will make our lives carefree. If we are honest, we would have to admit that most of us wouldn't mind at all being so rich that we can do whatever we want, whenever we want to do it. But this is an entirely selfish "wish" because we are rarely motivated to get wealthy in order that we might spend our riches in our service to the Master. Instead, we wish for vast sums of money so that we might live a life of indulgence. 

And this is a lousy mindset. 

In Ecclesiastes 2:17, Solomon makes the great confession of what his lifetime of pursuing wealth and pleasure resulted in. In this passage he says, "I hated life." How could that be? Wasn't Solomon the wisest man the world has ever seen? Indeed, he was. Isn't it true that he was one of the richest and most powerful men of all time? This is also true. So how come he was miserable? The reason was that he was seeking temporary and selfish pleasures. And while it is true that he took some satisfaction from the things that money could buy, this happiness turned out to be both fleeting and shallow. So when he looked back over the expanse of his life, he realized too late that he had wasted it on the wrong things: He had pursued the physical over the spiritual and it left him empty and bitter.

So, what can we conclude from all of this? One lesson is that we need to be more simple in our perspectives as to what will truly make us content. You have to admit that life can be filled with countless daily joys - from enjoying a beautiful sunrise, to appreciating our family and friends, and even to savoring an occasional peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And we need to do these things before it gets too late, for the main focus of the passage we read above is to understand that God will never leave or forsake us, so we are then free to serve Him to the best of our ability and to be content with what we have while we are engaged in that service.

In other words, we can either have a life that is jam packed with contentment because we are focused on the right things, or we can hate life because we are focused on the wrong things. The choice seems easy, when you think about it. What have you been wishing for? Which do you think will bring true contentment?