by Josh Lawson

In the early 1900’s there lived a man by the name of John D. Rockefeller. He was the first baron of the oil industry, and he is believed to be the wealthiest person in the history of the world. At one point during his lifetime, his net worth totaled more than $350 billion (in adjusted dollars). Just to put that into context, Bill Gates is the wealthiest person in the world currently and his net worth is a measly $75 billion. You could combine the net worth of Bill Gates and the next five wealthiest people in the world and John D. would still be wealthier than all of them! This guy had wealth beyond our wildest dreams.

But during his life someone asked him a question that we have probably all wondered ourselves, “How much is enough?” His response might shock you. Even though he was the wealthiest man in modern history and had all the money anyone could hope for, he replied, “Just a little bit more.”

John D. Rockefeller was not the first person to feel this desire for “a little bit more” and he is surely not the last. This “little bit more” is called discontentment and it creeps into each of our hearts whether we have a billion dollars or a one dollar bill.

Discontentment is a lethal concoction of Greed plus Envy. Erich Fromm says that “greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.” At our core, we are all on a search for satisfaction. But, we have been sold a bill of goods that says if we keep following the bread crumb path of consumption, we will eventually find satisfaction.

Nothing can be further from the truth.

Satisfaction can be had, but let me tell you a secret: it will never be found in things, people, events, or stages of life. It won’t be found in that perfect job, perfect spouse or perfect kid (but please tell me if you ever find any of these!).

Satisfaction (also known as contentment) will be the hardest thing you have ever learned – that’s why Paul called it a secret. But it is also closer than you might imagine.

Do you want to learn how to be truly satisfied?
Do you want to get off of the rat wheel of trying to find your satisfaction in stuff?

Then please join us over these next few blog entries as we seek to find the secret of contentment and try to answer the question, “how much is enough?”

About the Author

Josh Lawson serves as the director of Community Restoration (formerly Financial Restoration Ministry) at Antioch Community Church in Waco, Texas. He is passionate about seeing families set free from the burden of debt and financial stress, so that they are free to walk in the freedom that Christ has for them.

While serving at Antioch Community Church, Josh and his wife Jenny have developed the REALIGN curriculum. During that time the total amount of debt that has been paid off by both class attendees and those receiving financial coaching has been well over $3 Million dollars.

Follow Josh on Twitter: @joshvlawson