Completely content

I am not afraid in times of danger,
when I am surrounded by enemies,
by evil men who trust in their riches
and boast of their great wealth.
We can never redeem ourselves;
we cannot pay God the price for our lives,
because the price for a human life is too great.
(verses 5-8a)

Read Psalm 49: 1-12

The novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, by Solzhenitsyn, tells about a prisoner in a remote Siberian labour camp. It describes beatings, starvation, cruelty and inhuman conditions, yet concludes that ‘fate had been kind in many ways’ that day and that Ivan went to sleep completely content.

A Christmas Carol, a novel by Dickens, describes how Scrooge, a man with every worldly requirement, is unhappy and bitter.

How differently people perceive life! It seems that the less people have the more they appreciate what they do have. Yet those who have more than they need are often not satisfied, ever. The text warns against trusting in human wealth, or desiring it too much, or boasting about it. Wealth does not buy salvation. Christ bought salvation for you with his death and resurrection and now gives it freely to those who love him. Those who love wealth but not the Lord will never have redemption. So forget your riches and reach out to the Christ.

Help me to focus on you, Lord, and not rely on worldly riches for my contentment. Amen.

by Kathy Hoopman, in ‘Renewed Hope for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2000)

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