In Genesis 12:11 God tells Abraham to leave his home and family to go elsewhere. He was from Ur-Kasdim which in English is Ur of the Chaldees.
In 1927 an archeologist named Leonard Woolley identifies Ur’s location as a city in the southern part of Mesopotamia. It was a sacred city of the moon god, full of temples and groves where the Sumerians worshiped.
We don’t live in Mesopotamia. You probably haven’t been invited to worship the moon recently. (And if you were asked to do that you’d probably have a tough time not laughing in their face.)
A lot of people worldwide still live in ER. That’s ER, not Ur. I’d say the vast majority of Americans live in Er.
They obsess about figuring out a way to be:
taller happier skinnier
richer smarter younger
wittier healthier prettier stronger
When it comes to their house they’d like something:
newer closer better
nicer bigger fancier
Or they are not satisfied with their car unless it’s:
faster newer fancier
cooler bigger more loaded
The same thing applies to our job/career. Even if we like our job we want something higher.
We are never satisfied.
The problem is when we get what we want, we want something else. Something more.
We want to be:
tallest happiest skinniest
richest smartest youngest
wittiest healthiest prettiest strongest
If our house is newer, that makes us satisfied until we see one that is the newest, the nicest, the biggest and the best. The new car smell hasn’t even worn off but we are envious because someone else’s ride is the fastest, coolest, newest, fanciest or whatever. We just have a tough time being content.
If you have traveled overseas you realize how blessed we are to live here in the United States. I have visited countries where people work very hard and earn $250 in a year. Only 7% of the world’s population even owns any kind of a car. Yet we complain if the air conditioning in our car isn’t stellar.
Here’s what I know after coaching for 35 years: you can never win enough. If you win twenty basketball games and win the regular season district title you are not satisfied. You feel you must win the district tournament. If you win the district tourney you want to win the Region. Won the Region title, so what? You gotta win that Sub-State game. So you win the Sub-state and make in to THE BIG SHOW. Are you satisfied? No way. You want to win it all. If you win it all, you need to repeat to prove it wasn’t a fluke. You can never win enough.
You never have enough money. John D. Rockefeller made billions as the founder of Standard Oil yet he had an employee cut the paper towels in half in the restrooms. He felt it was a waste of money to use an entire towel to dry your hands. He had an employee gather the slivers of soap left in the shower stall drains so he could use them at home. Seriously? Do you want to use soap left behind by guys who worked all day in an oil refinery?
Another oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, was the richest man in the United States in 1957. He was a billionaire. On July 10, 1973 Getty’s 16 year old grandson JPG III was kidnapped. He refused to pay the ransom. In November a newspaper received a box containing a lock of hair and JPG III’s ear. They demanded $3 million within ten days or Getty would get his grandson back in little pieces.
Getty agreed to pay no more than $2.2 million because that was the most he could deduct off his taxes. After his son begged him Getty agreed to loan his son $800K at 4% interest to get his boy back. His son paid the ransom (with the help of that loan) and JPG III was released in Southern Italy. After his release his grandson called to thank him but Getty refused to come to the phone.
John Paul Getty III was permanently traumatized and became addicted to painkilling drugs. At age 24 he mixed drugs and alcohol, which lead to a stroke. The stroke brought on paralysis which lasted until he died at age 54.
John Paul Getty left behind $2.7 billion when he died. (Remember a billion is a thousand million. So 2,700 million wasn’t enough for him to be willing to pay a ransom for a grandchild?) WOW. Greedy Much?
We need to learn to be content. This is not something that we are naturally born with. We all have to learn to be content. Even the Apostle Paul said he was not easily satisfied in his life. He said he had “LEARNED, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”
God wanted Abraham to get out of Ur. He wants us to get out of Er. He wants us to be thankful. He wants us to be content with all He has given us.
Please share your comments with us
-Coach T
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