The Bondage of "More"

November is National Novel Writing Month and thousands of people across the country are participating in the NaNoWriMo challenge...to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. I've long ago given up writing novels. My first book was a novel, and though it has a special place in my heart, I think it will be permanently relegated to a binder on my bookshelf.

In the spirit of NaNoWriMo, though, and because I'm getting ready to start writing my second Christian non-fiction book, I'm going to use the month of November to write blogs pertaining to the main theme of my second book, spiritual slavery and culture. And my goal...to write 30 blogs this month on that topic. So...here we go....


Take a second and think about some of your motivations and desires in your life. Do you often strive for more money? More house? More free time? More power and influence at work? More trendy clothes or gadgets or vacations? More time with your family and friends? More recognition? More sex? More stable future? To be able to give more to your spouse or your kids? And perhaps most righteous sounding one, to be more holy or more Christlike?

The pursuit of more sounds perfectly reasonable to us. That is why we work, right? That's what this culture is all about. It's about using all God has blessed us with. And if we strive hard enough, we'll get more, and more is always better, right?

It is in that lie that the chains of "more" trap us. We become enslaved to the pursuit of what culture, even Christian culture, tells us we should want. More possessions, more beauty, more religion.

The danger is when we focus on more, we are often relying on ourselves. We are never satisfied and as long as we live, there is the capacity to work harder and accumulate bigger and bigger bounties.

In contrast, when God is the one we rely on to meet our needs, the focus changes from being on more, to the focus being on enough. More encompasses a hundred shades of gray that extends to infinity. Enough is either black or white. It's either enough or it's not.

The distinction between more and enough is shown over and over again in the Bible. God provided Adam and Eve enough. They got into trouble, though, when the devil tempted them with more. God provided the Israelites manna, which was enough, but they ended up incurring God's wrath because they wanted more. God sacrificed His one and only Son, who was enough to reconcile us to God for all eternity, but many religious people want to be more and more righteous by depending on more rules and more works to make us more in the eyes of God. More is a trap that elevates us and devalues God.

The chains of more make us a slave to achievement. We become a slave to constantly working, constantly striving, and constantly being enmeshed in more's pursuit. By changing our desires from more to enough, we are freed up to feel God's love through His provisions. We are free to be still and sit at His feet. We are free to do God's will, instead of our will. And if we focus on enough, we are free to step back and take time to admire God's work and be thankful for what we've been given.

God is enough and it is only through Him that we can be free of more.