Stop keeping up with the Joneses...find contentment in God

“Keeping up with The Joneses” is the title of the oldest running reality show in the world.
The plot of the show is centered on people trying to "be like" or to "compete with" a figurative set of people known as the Joneses. The Joneses are those people who seem to have everything in place...their lives seem every bit of the word perfect. They’ve got the money, material possessions (state of the art automobiles, fancy designer clothes, sprawling mansions), and fame. They are the people that everyone can’t help but admire. They get invited to every social event …and people can’t help but stare at them when they make their entrance… because their entrance must always be grand. Everyone wants to associate with them in order to “up” their own status in the society.

I could dare say that almost every adult has had a starring role in this reality show at some point in his or her life. Everyone has either intentionally or ignorantly tried to keep up with the Joneses. Be it by the clothes we wear, the friends we keep, the places we hang out, the gadgets we own, the people we marry, the schools we enroll our kids in.  We want to be accepted; to belong; we want fame…so we go out of our way to do the things that we believe will get us this desired end.

This may sound pretty normal and cool…but it is rather quite sad. You see people living a “million dollar lifestyle on a dollar budget.” You cannot afford to maintain a particular wardrobe but you spend all your money to buy pricey designer clothes. Some people have virtually gone bankrupt trying to maintain a lavish lifestyle that they simply cannot afford.

You go to places and do things that you actually dislike…in order to be liked by many – for popularity. People have gotten their priorities mixed up and messed-up. You sacrifice what really matters most in your life in order to obtain what you don’t actually need. You would rather spend your last dime to buy that super expensive smart phone that your neighbor has, than to buy food to feed your family. Sounds like fiction…but I know people who do this.

Everyday people are dying to who they really are on the inside in order to become who they are not...so the world will take note of them.  

While there are real-life Joneses around us (the well-to-do, the elite, the popular people about town)…believe me when I say that their lives are far from perfect. There’s not one single person on planet earth who doesn’t have problems and challenges.  You’d be surprised how many wealthy people go to bed at night wishing they could trade in their riches for just a day of peace. Many of them use these material possessions as a means to feel joy and happiness…yet they still haven’t found it. People today live with the regret of ending friendships/relationships even business partnerships which would actually have been more beneficial to them than the ones they are in now because they wanted to do what the Joneses were doing.

Bottom line is that no matter how hard you try to keep up with the Joneses you will never find contentment. You will always find yourself striving to do more to keep keeping up with them.  And as long as you keep trying to be who you are not, you’ll keep living a life that is so far removed from the one God had intended you to live.

Satisfaction and peace of mind cannot be drawn from money, material things, having many cool friends, travelling all over the world or doing whatever you think is the “in” thing. The more you look for peace from these sources, the more frustrated your life will become.  

I for one have learned and have come to accept that true peace comes from God - from having a relationship with Him. His word states: “You will keep in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you; because he trusts in you” (Isaiah 26:3). The word “peace” has its origins from the Hebrew word “shalom” which means: contentment, wholeness, completeness, and well-being. In the context of the above scripture, it means that if you trust God, and keep your mind stayed (focused) on Him, He will see that you are perfectly completely whole and content.

When you have a relationship with God, He will reveal His very purpose for your life. God will guide you on the path that you should tread. He will reveal what He has put in you that makes you uniquely different from the next person. You will recognize and believe that you are “fearfully and wonderfully made” by Him. You will not be bothered by what people think (or may think) about you, about what you have or don’t have, how you dress…and all those things that we get anxious about.  When you are content, you can work towards achieving your dreams without wanting to compete with anyone…because you will understand the place of God’s timing, not man’s.

We must learn to make God the source of our contentment. Godliness with contentment is great gain.