The Next Best Thing

How many times have you read the story of Adam and Eve and wondered if you would have made the same choice had you been in the garden? How could they struggle with discontentment in the middle of perfection?

Every day, we are reminded we’re in the situation we’re in because Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. If it wasn’t for them, we would live forever. If it wasn’t for them, we would be sin free, never age, and get that peace in the Middle East every president has always wanted.

But, as much as I’d like to blame all my woes on Adam and Eve, something tells me we are a lot like them. I’m not sure we would have made different choices had we been in their shoes (o’kay, obviously that’s a figure of speech. They were naked and didn’t wear shoes… at least until they sinned).

I know what you’re thinking: how do I know? Who do I think I am to say any one of us would have chosen to eat the fruit? Maybe we would have continued in perfection, never giving another thought to the tree God said to leave alone. 

Something Inside Us Wants Perfection

There’s something inside us that wants what’s better, what’s perfect. We want the next best thing because somehow we are convinced that’s where happiness is found. We too struggle with discontentment, and it causes us to reach for one more thing. 

It’s funny how Adam and Eve were created in perfection, but they still chased perfect. They had everything they could ever need, yet their desire for more stirred a need for one piece of fruit from just one more tree.

Doesn’t that sound familiar? That need for the one thing we don’t have because what we do have doesn’t seem to be enough? 

Do you know the average woman owns twenty-seven pairs of shoes? I can vouch for that statistic, considering I recently cleaned out my closet, and only got rid of about five pair. 

According to ignitevisibility.com, 80% of Pinterest users are female. Do you know how many times I’ve pinned home decor ideas and never completed one? Except for maybe some pallet furniture my husband didn’t like. 

Pinterest is one site that keeps me looking for things I can make better in my life: food, outfits, hairstyles, and of course … more shoes!

Per careeradviceonline.com, the average person will change their careers 5-7 times during their working life. Can you imagine going to college to get a degree in a specific field and then change your mind after all that hard work? 

Why Does The Human Soul Long For More?

Why aren’t we content? What is the reason the human soul longs for something we don’t have? 

It all started with Adam and Eve. If you look at Genesis 2:9 it says, “The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground  – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” 

Before I really sat down and studied this, I thought the only time Eve saw a tree good for food and pleasing to the eye was when she turned her attention to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But the Bible clearly says God made many trees that were delicious and pleasing to the eye. And they had access and permission to eat from all of them.

Why weren’t all of these trees good enough? 

When it comes down to it, we’re talking about satisfaction and contentment. If what we have brings satisfaction, we should be content. 

There’s something dangerous about discontentment. Discontentment causes us to look over the fence at the neighbors lawn when we should be enjoying our own. 

Discontentment causes us to want another pair of shoes when we have twenty-seven perfectly good pair in the closet. 

We Will Always Fight Against Discontentment

We are naturally discontent in our fallen nature, so we will have to war against the flesh to fight it. If we’re not careful, we can easily be deceived into thinking if we get the next best thing our lives will be fuller and we’ll be satisfied. But don’t forget, that’s the lie the enemy sold Eve and she bit into it. 

Ecclesiastes 5:10 says, “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity.” This verse proves that one more pair of shoes is not going to make us happy. 

Last week, while I was in NYC with my husband and some friends, we passed by a store with Kate Spade handbags. As we walked by and wondered whether to walk in or not, my friend said, “Oh, Kate Spade. She killed herself.” 

She became a style icon and had handbags with her name on them. Some bags are priced for several hundred dollars. As sad as it is, it shows money, nor fame, nor notoriety can satisfy the human soul. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with having more than one pair of shoes. But, we have to be careful when the need for more fools us into thinking we’ll be better off. That somehow,  that one thing will solve all of our problems. 

For Eve, it was a fruit from one tree. Her need for it sent her down a death trap she (nor we) could ever return from.

The Desire for One More Thing

If you go back to Genesis 3, the enemy convinced Eve her life wasn’t perfect. He convinced her she needed one more thing in order to achieve perfection. Can you believe that? We see the whole picture and realize how foolish she was.

The enemy got her to look at the one tree she couldn’t eat from and see that it was, “good for food and pleasing to the eye (Sound familiar? If not, go back to Gen 2:9 ), and desirable to make one wise, and she took and she ate. (Gen 3:6). 

You see, we really can’t get angry with Adam and Eve because we do this too. We do it with things, with careers, and we do it with relationships. The grass always seems greener on the other side, but once we climb the fence we see it’s no different than our own. And those that have climbed the fence always seem to regret they did. 

Do you know how to gain riches in this life? How we really find contentment and the abundant life God offers? Paul tells us in 1 Tim 6:6, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” 

I often tell my boys that to be rich is really a mindset. It’s not about the possessions we have, but being content with the blessings God has given us.

Challenge

So my friends, the challenge today is for all of us … myself included. Live in the moment and look around at all you have. Try not to compare yourself or your possessions with others because it only leaves us in a state of discontentment. 

I completely understand. We all have this fight. And to be honest, we’ll fight it until the day we see Jesus.  Discontentment is just a feeling that reminds us thing aren’t perfect. Just know that we can’t chase perfect because it doesn’t exist. It doesn’t exist in the next best thing, whether it be a career, a relationship or another pair of shoes. 

 

Hey Friends! I am super excited about my new Bible Study book, Reflections of Eve: A Woman’s Perfect Purpose in an Imperfect World. To check it out, click here. The release date is July 8th!!