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Key Bible Verse: So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content (1 Timothy 6:8). Bonus Reading:Philippians 4:11–13

My friend Stuart, a medical doctor, refuses to schedule himself for more than what other doctors consider half a practice. As a result he earns one-half the typical doctor's salary, but his life is rich and full. After Stuart completed his studies at Tulane and Emory, he moved to a mid-sized town in Kentucky to escape the rat race. He didn't want to pay high rates for insurance. He also didn't want to raise his family amid the hectic pace of the big city. He bought a small gentleman's farm and planted gardenias by the dozens, spent time talking with his patients, read philosophy and theology, got involved in his local church, and coached his daughter's soccer team. The first time I visited him, I had laryngitis, but he wanted to discuss Plato. He also was a superb general practitioner.

As a doctor, Stuart's salary is still more than adequate. He has far more than the minimum alluded to by Paul. Nevertheless, he has made what many would consider a radical choice. He's opted to live more simply and to work at a measured pace, and as a result his life is more humane. It takes courage to make such choices, but the results pay huge dividends.

—Robert K. Johnston in Life Is Not Work; Work Is Not Life

My Response: Am I," laying waste my powers"?

Thought to Apply: The world is too much with us; late and soon, /Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.

—William Wordsworth (English poet, 19th century)

Adapted from Life Is Not Work; Work Is Not Life (Wildcat Canyon, 2001) by permission.

Copyright © 2002 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

O Lord, work in my life so that I live by the values of Your kingdom rather than my society's consumer mentality.

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