Deny Ourselves?

And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward from all my toil.

Ecclesiastes 2:10

As a result of the fall of man into sin, God’s Word tells us we must toil on earth to make a living, to have food to eat, and a place to live. And so this becomes our life. From the time we leave home we are prepared to take care of ourselves, beginning our lives of toil, labor and work. The exchange of what we receive from our labor is the reward for our hard work. We have money to live on and it makes our labor seem worthwhile. Living in the US where we can be prosperous and earn more than we need to live on can be a temptation. We can buy many things to make our hearts happy just as Solomon did.

God wants to help us maintain a good balance between needs and desires. The Scripture highlighted below is one to remind ourselves how much we need divine wisdom and restraint in the handling of our finances. We must not allow the pleasures of the world to become idols that we worship more than God. Sometimes we work harder and longer in order to gain more things to make us happy. Then we are dissatisfied in our lives because we are tired, too busy, and don’t have time to rest and spend with our families. When we can take care of ourselves, we don’t really demonstrate that we need God.