Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Guest (Male): Hey everybody, welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Well, we're talking about your money. That's right. We're continuing a powerful series called Financial Fitness. Rick is opening God's word and showing us how to manage what we've been given with wisdom, faith, and purpose. I know if you apply these biblical principles, you'll start to experience true financial freedom and lasting peace. Okay, and now, here's part two of a message called The Law of Contentment.

Rick Warren: How many of you are still thrilled with the things you got at Christmas last year? You can't name what you got at Christmas last year. If I said, "Tell me right now the five things you got at Christmas. Name them right now," you couldn't name them. That's how temporary possessions are. They are short-term pleasure. It's a little fix.

What's going to happen is you're going to become what you thought you were so thrilled with, you're soon dissatisfied with, and you got to get the newer model. It's not going to bring you permanent happiness. It's not going to bring you permanent satisfaction. Ecclesiastes 5:10 says this, "If you love money—" and remember last week we talked about money being a tool. You use money and you love people. Use money, love people. Money is to be used. If you start loving money, you're going to use people to get more money.

Money is not to be loved. It says, "If you love money, you will never be satisfied. If you long to be rich, you will never get all you want." Somebody asked Howard Hughes, "How much does it take to make a man happy?" He said, "Just a little more." He said it's useless. He says you will never be satisfied. 2,000 years before that great theologian, Mick Jagger, Solomon was saying, "I can't get no satisfaction." And he's the wealthiest man in the world when he is writing this.

He's not some poor guy. He's got more than you or I will ever even imagine. He says you'll never be satisfied. The Living Bible says it's foolish to think that wealth brings happiness. So let me ask you a question, just to get gut-level honest here. How many of you would say, "I would like to live a life of less fatigue, of less expenses, of less anxiety, of less conflict, and of less dissatisfaction"? Who says, "I'd kind of like to live that life"? I think that would be all of us. You must learn the secret of the law of contentment.

Now, Ecclesiastes 6:9 says, "It's better to be satisfied with what you have than to always be wanting something else." That is the law of contentment. It's found all through the scriptures. It's in the book of Hebrews, chapter 13. Paul talks about it in Philippians, chapter 4. Look at the bottom of your outline. Paul says, "I have learned the secret of being content, whether living in plenty or in want."

Circle the word secret. It is a secret. Most people don't know how to be content. Notice it is something you have to learn. It is a secret you must learn. I'm going to teach it to you this morning. Now, we are not by nature contented people. By nature, I am discontented. I'm always wanting to change things. You're always wanting to change things. I'm not satisfied. You're not satisfied. It is not natural to be contented. You must learn the secret of being content.

How do you do that? It's not automatic. The Bible tells us that there are four steps, four keys, four principles to the law of contentment. Here they are. Number one, first, stop comparing myself to others. That's the first step in becoming a contented person. You've got to stop it. Stop comparing yourself to others.

God made you unique. You're not one in a million. You're one in billions. Nobody has ever been like you. God doesn't make clones. He never makes copies. Even identical twins are different. So it's really foolish to think that you have to be like anybody. You can't copy anybody else. You're unique. They're unique. 2 Corinthians 10:12 says this, "We do not dare classify or compare ourselves. It is not wise." He said it's foolish. It's immature.

The problem is we naturally do it. And we do it all the time. It is America's favorite indoor sport: comparing. We love to compare everything. You walk into somebody's house and the first thing you do is you start making comparisons. "Oh, I like their floor. Oh, that's kind of nice. Oh, look at that drapery placement. Oh, look at that TV. Wow, what a television!" You're making comparisons all the time.

You walk up to somebody and say, "Wow, I like the way she did her hair. Mine looks sucky today." And, "Wow, I wish I had his wife. I wish I had her husband. Why are my kids like that? I wish I had that job. Look at that car." You are constantly comparing. You do it all the time and that's what keeps you frustrated. You've got to stop it. If you're going to learn contentment, you've got to stop comparing everything around you.

I heard about this couple in our church who were in deep financial problems and they went to small group. The person's house was a pretty nice house and when they left, she said to her husband as they're driving away, "Did you see that?" He said, "What are you talking about?" She said, "Their furniture goes back to Louis XIV." He said, "Yeah, and ours goes back to IKEA on the 15th because we don't have the money for what we got, so don't even think about getting their furniture. Don't even think about it."

We're doing this all the time. I want you to write this down. I must learn to admire without having to acquire. That's a principle of contentment. I must learn to admire without having to acquire. You need to learn to rejoice in other people's prosperity without you getting jealous and envious and feeling like you have to have it too, and then being bitter or mad because they've got something you don't have. You must learn to admire. "Wow, that's a nice painting you've got. Wow, that's a nice backyard you've got," without having to acquire.

This is one of the great principles that Americans don't understand. I don't have to own it to enjoy it. A lot of times you think, "I'd like to do jet skiing." So you go out and you buy a pair of jet skis and they sit in your garage 90% of the time. Why not just go rent them the three times that you're going to use them that year and not have to keep them in your garage?

You say, "I like to go camp out in the mountains." Why do you have to go buy a mountain cabin when you can just rent it the one time a year you're going to go to the mountains? I don't have to own it in order to enjoy it. I learned this long ago. I don't have to own it. I just use your stuff. Which, by the way, if you've got a good mountain cabin, let me know. I'll be glad to use it for you. Get the cobwebs out for you. I'll be glad to do that.

You don't have to own something. You may have a friend in the church who has something you need. Just borrow it. Don't feel like you've got to go out and buy everything yourself. You don't. Because once you own it, you've got to repair it, you've got to maintain it, you've got to store it, and all these other things. I can learn to admire without having to acquire.

Here's what you do. The next time you walk into somebody's house and they've got something nice that you don't have, instead of starting to get discontent and envious, you just pray a little prayer that says this: "Thank you, God, that I don't have their payments." Because they're paying for that. They're paying for that. Maybe, just maybe, you don't want to put your money there. Maybe you want to put it in the bank and save it and make your money work for you instead of putting it on your wall where it's not making any money.

The money you put on the wall isn't helping you. The money you put in the bank and save is making you money. While you're sleeping, it's making you money. This is so important. When I'm talking to you about stop comparing yourself, this is not just a good idea to make you happy. Comparing yourself to other people is a sin. In fact, it is such a serious sin that God put it in the Big Ten.

The Ten Commandments. It's in there right along with don't murder, which you'd never do, don't commit adultery, don't rip somebody off and steal. You know what the 10th commandment is? Don't compare yourself to anybody else. It's right there. Exodus 20:17: "You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor." Don't look at it and go, "Man, I wish I had that," and start comparing and coveting.

What is coveting? It's a word we don't use a whole lot today. Let me define it for you. Coveting means the uncontrolled desire to acquire. That's what it means to covet: the uncontrolled desire to acquire. When everything I see, I've got to get it because somebody else has got it, that's called coveting. It's such a sin, it's right up there with don't murder. It's that important to God. He says, "I don't want you coveting."

The word covet in Hebrew in the Old Testament literally means to pant after. "I got to have it. I got to have it." It's to pant after. The word in Greek means to grab or to grasp so tightly that your hands are tied, you can't even let it go. If God ever gives you something and he tells you to give it away and you can't give it away, you don't own it. It owns you. You are possessed by your possessions. You don't own them. They own you.

He says, "Do not covet." Let me make this really clear. God is not saying you should never have any desire for anything. No, that's not what he says. In fact, that's not Christianity. That's Buddhism. Do you know what Buddhism is? Buddhism says the basis of Buddhism is that all suffering is the result of desire. That all pain is the result of desire. The whole goal of Buddhism is to get rid of human desire. The goal is if you can get rid of all your desires, then you'll never have any more pain. If you can get rid of all your desires, then you'll never have any more suffering. This is the philosophy of the Buddha.

If you can reach that state where you have absolutely no desires at all, then you'll have no pain and no suffering. That state of no desire is called Nirvana. Nirvana does not mean pleasure. It does not mean heaven. Nirvana means nothingness. That's what it means. It means a state of nothingness, a state where I have zero desires, so nothing can hurt me. When I can get to that state of zero desires, I have entered into nothingness and I will not suffer.

Well, that's nonsense, folks. It is the exact opposite of what everything in human behavior teaches us. Everything ever accomplished in life is created by human desire. Every great city is built because somebody desired to build a great city. Every great nation is built because somebody desired to build a great nation. Every great business is built because somebody desired to build a great business.

Everybody gets married because they desire to get married. Everybody has kids because they desire to have kids. Everybody makes money because they desire to make money. Desires are not wrong. In fact, your desires come from God. We're not talking about desire being evil. It's the uncontrolled desire. When a desire is uncontrolled, it becomes a lust. When a desire is uncontrolled, it becomes a coveting. When you desire something that is not righteously yours, like, "I want your wife," that's evil.

Desire is not a negative thing. Nothing can be accomplished unless you desire to do it. You can't become more like Christ without desiring to be more like Christ. You can't be a good person without desiring to be a good person. He's not saying desire is bad. He is saying coveting is bad, which is, "I've got to have more, more, more, more, and more of what you've got instead of what I've got." Never compare. This is the first key to learning the secret of a contented life.

Why should I never compare? Because comparing always leads to coveting. Number two, the second key to the secret of contentment is enjoy what I have. Too often we're so busy going after what else we want that we don't stop and enjoy what we've already got. How many people do you know who go out and overextend to buy a beautiful house and then they are never at home because they're busy paying for it?

They don't enjoy what they've got because they're busy making money to get more. Beautiful backyards sit empty and swimming pools sit unswum in. People don't enjoy what they've already got because they're always going after more. You've got to enjoy what you have. Did you know that God wants you to enjoy life? Not to just endure it, but to enjoy it.

Life was meant to be enjoyed, not merely endured. A lot of people think God is some cosmic killjoy that wants you to frown through life and never be happy and never laugh and never have any fun and never enjoy. Absolutely not. God created it all for your enjoyment. God created taste buds and then gave us Cinnabon.

God created ear drums and then gave us music. There is no single purpose for music except enjoyment. If you believe in evolution, you can have no explanation for music because music is not essential to survival. The only reason it's created is purely for enjoyment. It has no survival capabilities to it. It is simply God's way of expressing emotion, and every emotion can be created through music. God gave it to us because God is an emotional God.

God gave us skin that can feel touch and can experience pleasure. God gave us eyes and He created a world with color. He could have made it all black and white. It is all for our enjoyment. Sunrises and sunsets and beauty is for our enjoyment. God did this for our benefit. The fact is, God enjoys watching you enjoy what He's given you.

Any parent understands this. I enjoy giving gifts to my kids and then I enjoy watching my kids enjoy what I gave them. That's kind of obvious. God enjoys giving stuff to you because He's a generous God and then watching you enjoy what He's given you. So God says—in fact, the Bible says in Timothy everything on earth was given for our enjoyment. That's the kind of God we serve. It's for enjoyment.

But here's the problem. We're so busy getting more, we don't enjoy what we've got. The second principle of the secret of contentment is to learn to enjoy what God has given you. Here's what it says, Ecclesiastes 5:19: "If God gives a man wealth and property, he should be grateful and enjoy what he has. It is a gift from God." That is a command. You are commanded to enjoy what God gives you. You need to pay more attention to what you do have. You need to open your eyes. You need to appreciate what God has already given you. You need to be grateful for it. You need to enjoy what you've got. And it doesn't have to be a lot. Just enjoy what you've got.

Guest (Male): We really appreciate you joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and Rick felt like he wanted to end today's show by sharing a word of encouragement.

Rick Warren: Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." Did you hear that? The Bible is going to outlast the earth and the universe. Why? Because God's word is eternal. Because truth never changes. If it was true 5,000 years ago, it was true 1,000 years ago, it's true today, and it's going to be true a million years from today. This is why it's more important to know God's word than anything else. Opinions change, but truth never changes. It's why we focus on studying it here on our Daily Hope broadcast. Thanks for listening and let me hear from you. My email address is rick@pastorrick.com. Now that's two R's in the middle, rick@pastorrick.com. I'd love to hear from you and thanks again. Be sure to join me next time as we look into God's word for our Daily Hope.

Guest (Male): This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.