The Monopoly Money

I was reading Good to be Crazy and something hit me right in the face. She quoted Amy Carmichael who said: “Satan is so much more in earnest than we are–he buys up the opportunity while we are wondering how much it will cost.”

I immediately thought of Monopoly. When I play monopoly I win. The minute the game starts I buy every single piece of property I have until I am just about out of cash. This strategy always gives me a leg up on gaining monopolies of everything and having more properties to trade to complete my monopolies. While my husband is usually more conservative with what he buys targeting specific areas and making sure he has enough to pay for things that come up. While I am flagrantly throwing my cash down to gain every advantage that I can, knowing that the future can worry about the future and I can always mortgage/sell a property off if I run into trouble. To me - gaining ground is the most important strategy and I don't even look at the cost of purchases until I am told I can't afford one.

Fortunately I am not quite this irresponsible with money in real life. And since Bry handles the books the net result is nothing like how I play Monopoly. But maybe it should be. Maybe we should be putting every single penny we have into advancing the cause of Christ. Desire of comfort and the American way is not how we want to be, so why is that not reflected in our budget as much as it should be? The enemy is certainly not worrying about saving for a rainy day - he is putting every penny down because he knows his time is limited. Well our time is also limited in the earthly sense, shouldn't we be putting every penny down too?

Well, Bryan won't play much Monopoly with me anymore. Maybe its the real estate agents in my blood, or my buy em all up strategy, but my continuous winning makes the game less fun for him - not sure why... So basically I go all out, always win, and he gives up. Hmmm - sounds like a good strategy for life too?

The Discontent

I once heard a sermon that has sit in my heart for a very long time. I don't remember the whole sermon. I recall that it was a teaching on generosity based on Luke 16.

Luke 16 is perhaps the most confusing parable of Jesus. After 10 or 15 reads through I am still looking at it saying "huh?". But the pastor giving this sermon made it so clear regarding one thing. And I am going to share what I took from it with you.

Read it here to let the Lord speak to you through it.

The key to happiness. The key to joy. The key to killing that discontent.

Do you have gadget desires? Do you long after that new vera bradley purse? Does your mouth water when you think about buying more shoes? Does your pulse quicken at the thought of a faster car, a larger hard drive, a faster iphone, a bigger diamond? Or maybe its a newer fancier bible ;)

I am pretty sure we can all put ourselves in that category for one thing or another from one time to another. Have you ever felt that empty feeling that soon followed one of these purchases? I can't tell you how many times I increased the storage space in my hard drive feeling that need in my bones only to find that with terabytes and plenty of extra space - that my emptiness was not filled. Its in those moments that you see your God hole (cavity) can only be filled with the Lord and not GB or Karots.

Have you ever met someone who no matter how good their situation was - they always saw the negative and walked through life as if everything was a burden and there was no joy? Now have you ever met someone who not matter how bad their situation was that they always saw the positive and walked through life with joy and happiness? I have met many of both. I feel like one of the differences that I can see in these people is generosity (disclaimer: obviously with many exceptions including clinical depression). Now - I would not be naive enough to make huge generalizations about all people or all of a particular type of people. But - in my experiences I often see that generosity makes a huge difference in a person being of one type or another. This coincides with what the pastor spoke in that sermon on Luke 16. He said something that rings in my head over and over again as I walk through my life.

Generosity Covers Discontent

Did you catch that? Generosity covers discontent. You don't often see missionaries serving in third world countries complaining about their ipod dying, or even that their feet hurt. You don't often see those who serve the least of these whining about how hard their day was or what so and so said about her. When I have met these people they seem to have a joy and light that goes beyond circumstance. When I have served alongside them I have felt that joy that goes beyond circumstance.

So to take this to another level - the next time you start thinking about how tough you have it - would your follow up be - how hard does someone else have it and how can I help? Maybe it should. Maybe it should be my response the next time I whine about moody coworkers or sitting in front of the computer all day. I have used this knowledge "generosity covers discontent" when advice is inquired of me on certain things. I don't always go there myself but I will continue trying.

Whether its baking cookies for a widow or yardwork for someone disabled - generosity always puts you in a better mood. A theologian once said that if everyone only concerned themselves with the needs of others - everyone's needs would be met. The idea here is to take care of each other. This selflessness leads to everyone being taken care of. And when we are serving others - we are not concerned with our own needs. Taking the focus off ourselves and onto others and the Lord is the key to being content.

So the meaning of life? Jesus - Serving Others - Serving the least of these. When we are not concerned with others - this is when discontent sets in, as a symptom of selfishness.

This parable, and this teaching has helped me in my life and I pray that the Lord may use it to help you in yours.

Luke 12:33

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.