| Luke 12:15 – “And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” |
When I was a boy, I visited our grandparents in California.
My grandmother had a bunch of old clothes that she wanted my father to look through.
One that elicited most of my interest was his Navy uniform.
I asked him about it.
Were you really in the Navy?
Did you sail on a ship?
He answered yes to both questions so I pursued the ship a little more, thinking it was a battleship or aircraft carrier. He said it was a supply ship that went and kept other ships stocked with food, clothes, and other items.
Feeling a little dejected, I asked, “what was the name of your ship?” And he told me…the Tantalus.
That was a strange name. What did it mean? So he told me the story.
The Greeks had a story about a figure called Tantalus.
He was a rich but wicked king.
Once, he transgressed the order of things. One version says he stole the secret nectar and dared give it to the mortals below.
For that, Zeus punished him by making him forever hungry and thirsty. He did this a cruel twist.
He stood Tantalus in a pool of water up to his neck. He could not bend it far enough to drink of it. So, in his thirst, the water was near but out of reach.
And the pool was under a low hanging branch of a fruit tree, just out of reach for Tantalus.
For the remainder of time, he would be thirsty and hungry, even with the abundance of food and water surrounding him.
Hence, we have our word tantalize, to tease with what is just out of reach.
While the legend is interesting, and it was to a small boy, the truth is disheartening.
In Western Civilization, we live better than over 99% of all of humanity. We want for nothing but…we yearn for everything.
Jesus warned about being spiritually tantalized.
In Luke 12, Jesus tells of a man who had more than he needed but wanted even more. He discovered soon that what he wanted, he could not have because life was over.
Jesus prefaced it with these words: “Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”” (Luke 12:15, NIV)
The problem with an abundance society is we believe we have scarcity. And the more you want, the less you have. Like Tantalus, we die empty, longing for what is just out of reach.
So be careful about wants. They may be up to your neck and hanging just over your head and yet, without them, you find yourself tortured. Instead, be grateful for what you have and let that be enough.
–Robert G. Taylor
robertgtaylor.com
