Yesterday I wrote that God isn’t always that flashy when working in our lives.
But just because God isn’t flashy doesn’t mean I don’t have to be flashy.
On Tuesday Apple announced the newest members of the iPhone family: the iPhone 5C and the iPhone 5S. I’ve written before about how much I love my iPhone and the ways it allows me to connect with the world around me. Sometimes it can be a distraction but, for the most part, my iPhone is a great piece of technology that has improved my life.
At least my iPhone was a piece of technology that improved my life. Now it’s nothing but a technological dinosaur holding me back from becoming everything I could possibly be.
Now that the iPhone 5S is coming out, my iPhone 4S seems a little outdated. Not only is it smaller than the iPhone 5S but it has a slower processor, a worse camera and it isn’t gold.
How can I be flashy without a gold iPhone?
More importantly, how can I be content without a gold iPhone 5S?
The truth is I can’t.
As long as there’s a need in me to have the newest and best technology, I will never find contentment.
I want the newest iPhone every year.
I want an Xbox One and PS4 on launch day.
I love my iPad but can come up with 10 reasons why I should have an iPad Mini.
We have a really nice HD TV but every time I’m at Costco I can’t help but dream of having an 80” LCD TV hanging on our wall.
Discontentment is a powerful monster and one that will knock us down every time we try to wrestle it. For some of us, especially when it comes to technology, it’s so easy just to give into the monster and feed our need for the newest and the best.
The only reason I don’t feed the discontentment monster is because I don’t have the resources. Even though I think it sucks, it’s a blessing that I don’t have an extra $500 laying around for an Xbox One or $400 for a 64 GB gold iPhone 5S. I would love to have those things but their acquisition would just feed the discontentment in my life.
It may not be hiding under the bed, but the discontentment monster is still very real and very scary.
How do you kill the discontentment monster?
I think it’s a serious question, despite the quite entertaining tone of your post! (I enjoyed reading this one a lot.) It’s not the latest and greatest tech with me; for the past few years, it’s been geeky stuff like books and back issues and DVDs/Blu-Rays. “Ooh, you mean *that* is available? Want, want, want!” I have slowly but surely begun to, if not kill, at least curb my discontentment monster by (a) not making impulse purchases; (b) thinking, “Will I really have time to enjoy this once I own it?”; (c) being sure it’s a purchase I wouldn’t be embarrassed to admit to later (can I say, “Yes, I spent $15 on those old comics, and I’d do it again”). I’ve also begun thining that every dollar I spend on myself is a dollar I could be spending on someone else, either my family, church, or a charity. I am not claiming I have reached perfection in all this, you understand – but I do think I’ve gotten better.
I like your question “Will I really have time to enjoy this once I own it?” I have shelves full of DVDs, Blu-rays and HD-DVDs. Some of them I’ve only watched once and others I’ve never watched, they’re just sitting there. Had I asked your wonderful question I may have kept the monster at bay.
I find the practice of Examen and Silent Prayer to be helpful with being discontent. I believe there are underlying reasons that stir the desire for more. I also believe that underneath those desires is a true and worthy desire which has yet to be named. But these things are difficult to discern without bringing them before God and letting Him sort it out for us. Great blog, Scott!
Thanks, Doug.
A lot of times I just want to focus on the symptoms but allowing God to point out and address the underlying issues is more important.