I recently received a blast email from a hardware store entitled “Want to make the Joneses jealous?”  and I cringed.  But I opened the email to read the tagline: “Let’s prepare to show off!”

And I sighed…

Various forms of media SHOUT at us … as if to imply that we just aren’t good enough and/or that we need to make improvements and/or that we should strive to make others jealous and/or that we need to do more to impress others.

Turn on the TV.  Check your email.  Read up on the news.  Or pick up your daily postal delivery… we get it from all angles.

No wonder we feel inadequate.  No wonder we compare ourselves to others.  No wonder we struggle to just be content… even as Christians.

But in the end, what does it matter to know that we won or that we are better or that others might be jealous of us?  What does it matter?  Truly?

It doesn’t.

That’s the point.  It’s a “chasing after the wind”…

The words of Solomon, the son of David, the king of Jerusalem, in the book of Ecclesiastes tells of his chasing and toiling and dominating and accumulating and working his tail off … and then, eventually he sat back and realized none of it TRULY meant anything at all.  Let Solomon, a wise man who made his fair share of mistakes, be an example to all of us.

He even goes to the extent of expressing frustration over gaining wisdom… as it seemed to deepen a sadness in his heart.

What do we take from this?  Our striving, our toiling, our labor should be done in Christ’s name and for His purpose!

So, all I really want to say is “Who cares what the Joneses think?!”

We should strive for that purpose for which we were created.  We were created so that Christ could love us and to mirror His love to others. 

Period.

That’s why we were created.  What do you think the Joneses think about THAT?!