Is it OK to Want More Out of Life?

Do you get tired of finding yourself in the repetitive quest for MORE? If only I had more discipline, more money, more time, more peace?

I just hit a relatively significant birthday milestone and "more" has floated to the surface a lot lately. Thoughts like, "At this stage in my life should I have more? More of a career, more of a close friend group, more money saved, more self-control, more passion, more motivation, more wisdom, more confidence?"

And then I feel guilty. I have more blessings than I deserve, and well, I'm a Christian. Shouldn't I be more grateful for what I have and more content?

Shoot, there's the "more" again.

A TALE AS OLD AS TIME

As it mostly goes, many, many others have shared these same thoughts. Humans have always wanted more. Have you ever spent five minutes with a child? It's the whole "give-a-mouse-a-cookie" problem. Just walk through some Bible classics. From the get-go, Adam needed more: a wife. Then that wife wanted more: knowledge. From there, the desire for more just kept growing like a stomach virus spreading through toddlers at a daycare. Do you remember Lot's wife? She wanted just one more look back at her old life. Joseph's brothers wanted more attention from their father while Joseph wanted more love from those pesky brothers. Leah wanted more love from her husband, that he really only had for her sister Rachel, who wanted more from him in the form of children! The Israelites in the desert wanted more freedom, until they had it, then when they were free in the desert with food God provided, they wanted more than manna. We could go on and on!

These stories all highlight a simple reality: We all are born with a desire for more. We're made in the image of God, and deep down we long for perfection, abundance, completion, and eternity.

But wait a minute…doesn't God offer us this through Jesus? Colossians 2:10 says, "you have been made COMPLETE in Christ." Ok, so we should be content. Case closed. End of story… except, is it?

THE "S" WORD

Sure, we're made complete through Christ, but how do we rest in that contentment when we're being convinced on the daily that a million other things will satisfy us and some are even necessary to our survival? And how do we balance the amount we rely on God's provision versus the amount we pursue betterment, plow forward, work towards "more"? Is it wrong to, dare I say, strive?

In the Christian circles, "striving" has kind of become a dirty word, but is it? Maybe we should instead be asking, "How much should we strive?"

"I GOT THIS"

Let's get specific with a scenario: the human body. Obviously we've got to take care of these machines that hopefully will last us a good 75-80 years. Ya know, use it or lose it. However, no one wants the pursuit of health to become the end all, be all. A well-intentioned pursuit of health can easily slide into thinking that the better you look and feel, the more satisfied you'll be. The thinking might begin to lean towards, "When I do good things, I get more satisfaction. It's up to me to create my contentment. I got this."

Sounds pretty good…until it isn't. Eventually being the one in control becomes too much. I sang this song as a kid that said, "You've got to walk right and talk right and pray right and sing right on the battlefield. I'll keep on bringing souls to Jesus by the service that I give."

Um, that sounds exhausting and like a lot of pressure.

In their own way, the Jewish people of Jesus' time probably understood high pressure as well. While they didn't have social media to throw their inadequacies in their faces, they did have highly esteemed members of their society to compare themselves to. Their measure of success focused largely on how well they could obey the Jewish laws, of which there were plenty to follow. The uber-religious thought they had this down pat!

AND THEN CAME JESUS

The people were living their day-to-day lives when Jesus entered the scene and suddenly, everything changed. Can you put yourself in the place of a Jewish woman at the time of Christ? You're diligently trying to live your best life, do all the right things, keep all the balls in the air, and then you hear that an amazing man, THE MESSIAH, offering Godly wisdom and healing, is in your town?!

Or how about this? Picture yourself driving into work, possibly speeding to get there on time, eating a granola bar or maybe chugging down a protein shake (because "they" say protein is king now, right?). And as you're eating breakfast/driving, you're also thinking, maybe worrying, about one of your family members or friends. It dawns on you that you should pray for them, and then you start to think about another person you should pray for. And as you're praying, you also start confessing to God that you'd like to read your Bible more, and that reminds you of that Christian podcast you've been meaning to listen to. So you go to turn on your podcast, and your phone is blowing up with notifications!

Your texts are flowing in… "Have you heard?! There's a man speaking downtown today… He's saying He's THE SAVIOR?! WHAT???!!!"

What would you do? Keep driving in to work? What if this "Savior" started healing kids with cancer, curing the elderly of Alzheimer's, and freeing drug addicts from their addiction? Would you start to believe? Would you find a way to go see Him? Let's say you do, and before you know it, He's walking your way, coming to speak to YOU.

Imagine in this story that the man truly is Jesus Christ, what would you want Him to say to you? What would you ask Him?

There's a million things I'd love to hear, but perhaps I'd like him to say, "You are doing so well! I love your efforts and your heart. And way to parent the kids and keep up with the laundry and homework and lunch boxes on top of it all! I am so proud of you."

An "atta-girl" from Jesus would be pretty sweet, huh?

Now go back and put yourself in the shoes of a Jewish citizen who has gone to listen to Jesus speak. Did Jesus go on and on about how good the people were doing?

Well, not exactly.

JESUS DROPPED THE MIC

In Matthew 5 in His famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus holds nothing back. He tells the crowd of Jewish "do-gooders"/law-abiders that unless they can be more righteous than the most righteous people of their day, they can't ENTER the kingdom of heaven.

Ooh. Tough blow. Then Jesus ups the ante even more. He challenges his listeners by expanding on their current set of rules. "The law says … but I say …" He doles out some extreme commands like don't commit adultery and furthermore, don't even lust after a woman, and if you do, gouge out your right eye! If He was speaking to us today, maybe it would sound like: "Don't go patting yourself on the back for going to church on Sunday or packing lunches for the homeless or not hurting someone." I'm calling you to more! When someone cuts you off in traffic, control your anger. Love people—even those from the other political party. Give of your money and your time, even when it's hard. And don't fight back if someone argues with you on Facebook!"

Basically, Jesus' sermon on the mount leveled the playing field to the point where no one qualified. 

He doled out some heavy standards, on top of the expansive list of laws already required for the people to follow. Jesus could've been like, "Hey y'all, It's about to get a lot better." But he didn't. Jesus didn't tell them "Way to go. Keep doing what you're doing". Instead, he told them what they needed to hear. He showed them their brokenness. He highlighted that on their own, they can't find true completion. They were shown their lack so they could see their need.

Lacking anything isn't an easy experience, but perhaps it's one of our greatest gifts because it shows us that we need something... need to change, pivot, explore. Lack shows us that we are incomplete.

We can hold that incompleteness with satisfaction because Jesus says it isn't our job to complete ourselves, it's HIS.

BON-BON TIME?

Think back to the example of our bodies and how they are such tangible proof that we can't ever achieve perfection on our own. Even if we come close, it's fleeting. Hair turns gray, bellies expand, joints wear out, and wrinkles form (even Botox can't hold them off forever.) So should we just lay on the couch, eat our bon-bons in defeat, and stop pursuing more? Should our inability to complete ourselves make us stagnant? I mean, it's all up to God anyways, right? Isn't God a God that can do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine?

Well, yea. But that's not the end of the story. The full verse of Ephesians 3:20 says "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us."

It doesn't say, according to his power that is working FOR US. Nope, instead it says, "within us". That implies that our role isn't to sit back while God does it all. God isn't going to just cook all the food and scrub all the dishes while we sit on the couch watching Netflix. (Can you tell I have pre-teens?)

God instead JOINS us as we are going. We get to take step after step and strive towards more WITH GOD, and He wants the ultimate good. He is the God of more.

So, if you're in a place where you desire more, don't feel too defeated or guilty for not being content. Instead, try this.

Allow your lack to steer you in the direction of your need. You can be thankful for what you have and believe that better things are coming

Lack teaches us humility. Have teaches us gratitude and stewardship. Want teaches us hope.

We can be thankful for Christ and all our blessings AND desire more. That desire could be nudging you towards all God has to offer. Maybe it's God saying, "You've got the goods, and I'm with you. You might not know where we're going, but let's keep walking because it just keeps getting better…better than you can ask or imagine."