My family and I have been on a JRR Tolkien kick lately. His series, The Lord of the Rings, has one particularly creepy figure, Gollum, who repeats a word that has now become associated with his character. Whether it’s caressing in delight, crying out to retrieve, or woefully waxing on, Gollum names one peculiar object as his “Precious.”
What we come to learn is that this Precious is, in fact, the very Ring of Power that has the potential to destroy all of Middle-Earth if placed on the wrong finger, namely, the evil menace, Sauron.
This story loosely ties to a situation I found myself in the other day. As I walked out my back door, what fell upon me was one of the largest wasp-looking things I had seen in a long time. This wasp-thing was none other than a Cicada Killer (see image above), and it was not happy! Come to find out; I had walked too close to its kill…(see image below).
This cicada killer acted out of instinct by protecting its food source and keeping me at bay. Only later did I come back and blow the husks of the cicadas off my deck and rid myself of this invader and his hunting grounds. As I thought more about it, I realized Gollum and this cicada killer has something to teach us about contentment.
Our natural instinct is to protect and defend those things we deem as within our possession or responsibility. This is good, and this is not so good.
On the one hand, this is good. Consider one of God’s names, El Kanna, which means the God who is Jealous. However, a biblical and righteous understanding of God’s jealousy is unlike our experience with anything we possess because God is the Creator of all that exists. He brought forth people to be His own possession. Thus, He is the only One able to express righteous jealousy when His people go astray.
Consider a second example–related to many of us–of how this may be good. I’ll use my family. As a father, part of my responsibility is to protect, provide, and care for my family’s needs (spiritual, physical, emotional, etc.). Practically, I must attend to them in an understanding way to help them flourish and thrive. Part of attending to those needs presents itself in some ways, like Gollum and the infamous cicada killer. For instance, if an intruder comes into my home seeking to harm my family or steal my goods, I will defend and protect them until the invader is removed. However, my responsibility of protecting and providing for my family and other things within my responsibility can also cross a line…see Gollum and the cicada killer once again…when my protection of them becomes ultimate.
Therefore, on the other hand, it is not good to make ultimate the things and people within my responsibility. Consider my family once again and my children in particular. At some point, I have to launch my children into life, which means many things. It at least means launching into financial, emotional, and physical independence. It will also mean spiritual independence. My faith cannot be their faith, and my hope or expectation for them cannot become ultimate. Let’s work this out. One of the hardest things in parenting is letting your children fail. However, we prevent them from launching well when we keep them from failure. This type of parenting is often rooted in a “Precious” mentality, and so on.
How Does This Apply To Us Today?
- Stewardship…not ownership.
- The call of the Christian is to steward (rightly manage as not unlike an Ambassador) those things and people within their care (Matthew 6:19-21) for the glory of God and service of others.
- Responsibility…not possession.
- The call of the Christian is to take responsibility which means intentional investment seeking an understanding of things and people within our care.
- Contentment…not Accumulation.
- The call of the Christian is to be like the Hobbits…able to enjoy the good things in life because they are not the ultimate things in life. Which also means being able to go without. Luke 12:16-21
“Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.”
Philippians 4:11-12
However, there is a problem. We struggle with making temporary things ultimate things. We wrestle with knowing the difference between stewardship and ownership. We are often vexed when, by starting with good intentions to provide, we hoard. How do we live with contentment like Paul describes above?
Consider Christ. When told by a Scribe in Matthew 8 that he will follow Christ wherever He goes, Jesus replied, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20). These words fall like hammer blows on the cold steel of the autonomous man. To him, this makes no sense. How could God say such a thing? His gaze was fixed on Father, and His mission was His glory. Christ accomplished this by obeying the Father even to death (Philippians 2:8).
Thus, Peter writes, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps” (1 Peter 1:21). Therefore, as our eyes are fixed on Christ and His interests, we are like softened steel ready to receive the life-giving hammer blows of truth shaping us by His Word through the Holy Spirit to conform us to the image of Christ. And so, we daily obey His commands (Matthew 28:18-20) and confess when we don’t (1 John 1:9).
Lord, empower us, by Your Spirit, to be content. Amen.
— August 3, 2023