Fixing What Ain't Broken

Earlier this week, I was in a meeting with my media team when our conversation turned to the recent news that Apple has introduced a slew of new products, including a new 5G enabled iPhone 12. As one of my millennial teammates extolled the virtues of the new device, another one narrowed his eyes on my wrist and then said in an approving tone, "Well, Pastor, I see you are pretty tech savvy. You have an Apple watch! What version is it?"

The truth was, I had no idea. So I took it off and handed it to him. He checked the back, and then said in a disapproving tone "Oh, it's only a 3."

Then he leaned back in his chair and said triumphantly "I have a 6. You should get one."

I immediately asked: "Why, what's the difference?"

He mumbled some incoherent techno-babble and then finally said "and this version has an electrocardiogram monitor."

I burst out laughing and said "seems to me like you wasted your money. The last time I checked, the purpose of a watch is to tell time."

Most of us have upgrade-itis (Yes, I made that word up). We are constantly bombarded with savvy marketing messages that attempt to persuade us that we need the newest and latest shiny object. Of course what they fail to tell us is that rarely do the new devices do a better job of what they already do.

So we spend money to solve problems that really aren't problems. Translation: We fix what ain't broken.

This is an ancient problem. God created the world and placed the first couple in paradise. They had everything that anyone could ever need or want. The scripture informs us that the Devil (in the form of snake) slithered up to Eve and recommended that she eat a piece of fruit that was hanging from a tree that God told them not to eat from. This is what happened next:

When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she’d know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate. (Genesis 3:5 MSG)

Well, Eve didn't get what she thought she would. Instead, she and Adam were cursed, kicked out paradise, and the world has never been the same. Eve thought she could make paradise better. But how can you upgrade paradise?

What (or who) are you trying to upgrade that may be working perfectly well?

We must learn the power of contentment.

Reinhold Niebuhr once famously prayed Lord, "give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can change, and the wisdom to know the difference." I think we need to add a line to that prayer. Not only do we need the courage to change what we can change and the serenity to accept what we can't change. We also need the sobriety to realize what doesn't NEED to change.

In the very near future, you will be tempted to improve something that is working perfectly well.

Resist it.

Let these words of Solomon march up and down the corridors of your heart:

Give me enough food to live on, neither too much nor too little. If I’m too full, I might get independent, saying, ‘God? Who needs him?’ If I’m poor, I might steal and dishonor the name of my God.” (Proverbs 30:9-10 MSG)