From Max Lucado’s book “Cure for the Common Life,” Beginning with a parable from the Bible, Judges 9:8-15. . .
Don’t heed greed.
Greed makes a poor job counselor. She tells fig trees to bear no figs, olive trees to bear no oil, vines to bear no grapes. Don’t consult her. Don’t be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have” (Hebrews 13:5 MSG). Is not the right job with little better than the wrong job with much? “It is better to have little with fear for the Lord than to have great treasure with turmoil” (Proverbs 15:16 NLT). As the Japanese proverb says, “Even if you sleep in a thousand mat room, you can only sleep on one mat.”7
Don’t let the itch for things or the ear for applause derail you from your God intended design.
In his book Money: A Users Manual, Bob Russell describes a farmer who once grew discontent with his farm. He griped about the lake on his property always needing to be stocked and managed. The hills humped his roads forcing him to drive up and down. And those fat cows lumbered through his pasture. All the fencing and feeding—what a headache!
He decided to sell the place and move somewhere nice. He called a real-estate agent and planned to list his farm. A few days later the agent phoned wanting approval for the advertisement she intended to place in the local paper. She read the add to the farmer. It described a lovely farm in an ideal location—quiet and peaceful, contoured with rolling hills, carpeted with soft meadows, nourished by a fresh lake, and blessed with well bred livestock. The farmer said, “Read that add to me again.”
After hearing it a second time, he said, “I’ve changed my mind, I’m not going to sell. I’ve been looking for a place like that all my life.”8
Paul would have applauded that farmer. He learned the same lesson: “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” (Philippians 4:11).
Before you change your job title, examine your perspective toward life. Success is not defined by position or pay scale but by this: doing the most what you do the best. Parents give that counsel to your kids. Tell them to do what they love to do so well that someone pays them to do it.
Spouses, urge your mate to choose satisfaction over salary. Better to be married to a happy person who has a thin wallet than a miserable person with a thick one. Besides, a pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life life” (Proverbs 13:7 MSG).
Pursue the virtue of contentment. “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6 NIV). When choosing or changing jobs, be careful. Consult your design. Consult your Designer. But never consult your greed. ~Max Lucado, Cure for the Common Life (Nashville, Tennessee: W Publishing Group, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. 2005) 46-47.
(Posts with a preamble asterisk * are for a more general audience and not specific to teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)
