Covenants of God

In an issue of CT magazine, author Jen Wilkin writes:

Individualism says that I should do what’s best for me regardless of what’s best for others. Instant gratification assures me that waiting is an enemy to eliminate. At every turn, I am told that I can and should have what I want when I want it.

Earlier this year, my husband and I spent two weeks with an apparent narcissist named Charlotte. From the moment we stepped into her space, it was all about her. She demanded our full attention day and night. Forget rational arguments or the needs of others; it was The Charlotte Show 24/7. She thought only of herself and demanded loudly and often that her needs be met. Our schedules bowed to her every whim. She uttered not a word of gratitude during the entire 14 days.

And we didn’t mind one bit. Because all 7 pounds and 15 ounces of her was doing exactly what she should. Our newest grandchild’s age-appropriate focus is to declare, Me, right now! Any time she is tired, hungry, or needs a clean diaper. Babies self-advocate as a survival instinct. They understand only the immediate need.

But what is appropriate in an infant is appalling in an adult. In its obsession with “me, right now,” our culture doesn’t just worship youthfulness; it worships childishness, legitimizing it into adulthood. An adult who demands what he wants when he wants it is a costly presence in any community, prioritizing his own needs above those of others and of the group. He has not learned to “put away childish things,” as the Bible says (1 Cor. 13:11, KJV); he has managed to grow physically from a baby to an adult without shedding the childish mantra of “me, right now.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

As parents, our first challenge is to meet the needs of babies crying out, “Me, right now.” But our greater task over the years is to train our children to mature and outgrow their entitlement, to resist the narcissistic norms of our age. It is our job as Christian parents to move our children from the immaturity of individualism and instant gratification to the maturity of sacrificial service and delayed gratification.

About seven in ten respondents in a survey said they strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: “Having more money would solve most of my problems.” Similar proportions of people in each income bracket felt that way, including those with salaries of $200,000 or more.

Exactly how much more money do we think we need to be happy? A survey from the financial-services company Empower put the question to about 2,000 people.

In the survey, most people said it would take a pretty significant pay bump to deliver contentment. The respondents, who had a median salary of $65,000 a year, said a median of $95,000 would make them happy and less stressed. The highest earners, with a median income of $250,000, gave a median response of $350,000.

Even very wealthy people think like this. A 2018 study asked millionaires to rate their happiness on a scale from one to ten and, if they didn’t say ten, predict how much money they would need to move one point higher. Slightly over half of those with a net worth of $10 million or more said their wealth would need to increase by at least 50%.

A research study examined data from millions of plane flights to determine possible indicators for incidents of air rage—when passengers become unruly or violent in some way. The study found that flights that have a first class or business class cabin and a separate economy class section are more likely to report incidents of air rage than flights with only one class of seats.

The study also showed that when flights board from the rear of the aircraft, rather than inviting first class passengers aboard first, there were fewer incidences of unruly behavior. When people walk past passengers in the first class or business class cabin and see them swilling champagne and eating caviar, they feel as if they have been treated unequally and unjustly.

The envy and jealousy make passengers more prone to feel justified losing control and acting rudely or violently.

Writing for The Atlantic, Michael Mechanic parsed the findings of the most recent study on the perennial “Does Money Buy Happiness?” question. Recent polling from The Wall Street Journal and the University of Chicago points to a steep decline over the past quarter century in the percentage of American adults who view patriotism, religion, parenting, and community involvement as “very important.” The only priority tested whose perceived importance grew during that period was money.

Researchers definitively found, [in their original 2010 study], that the quadrupling of a person’s income had an effect on well-being roughly equal to the mood boost of a weekend “and less than a third as large as the [negative] effect of a headache.”

The authors also explain that “the difference between the medians of happiness at household incomes of $15,000 and $250,000 is about five points on a 100-point scale.” That’s “almost nothing,” one researcher said. With such a small difference, in fact, one could argue that “there is no practical effect of income at all!”

Possible Preaching Angle:

The origin of the proverb “money can’t buy happiness” has its origins as far back as 1750 in the writings of Rousseau. But even so, people still think that it can.

In late May of 2023, U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins formally resigned her position after two federal oversight agencies launched wide-ranging investigations into her behavior. Those investigations concluded that she both lied to investigators and used her position to influence a local election.

Investigators say Rollins leaked information to the media for a story intended to sabotage Kevin Hayden, who was campaigning to replace her as U.S. attorney. The story contained the false accusation that Hayden was under federal investigation himself.

The initial investigations into Rollins’ behavior were sparked after she was seen at a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee. This was a significant departure from the agenda of Rollins’ boss, Attorney General Merrick Garland, who repeatedly ensured that his agency’s top priority would be maintaining political independence. After Rollins was seen at the fundraiser, Garland barred any political appointees from attending fundraisers or other campaign events.

Rollins’ behavior was said to have violated the Hatch Act, a law that curtails political actions by government employees. Violations included an instance where she solicited 30 free tickets to a Boston Celtics game for youth basketball players, including a pair for herself.

According to the inspector general’s office in the Justice Department, Rollins’ behavior was among the “most egregious” in the history of the agency.

Possible Preaching Angle:

God cares about the delivery of justice, and doesn't look kindly on people who abuse their positions of power for personal gain.

Robert Samuel is a 46-year-old former mobile phone salesman who now gets paid to sit in line for others. If a client wants something but can’t stomach a long queue, they pay him thousands of dollars to do it for them. Samuel sits, standing, or sometimes sleeps, in lines: waiting for theater tickets, iPhone releases, limited edition hoodies, and more before either relinquishing his place to his customer or buying them tickets. This has been his work for nine years and before the pandemic, he was earning over $86,000 a year. The toughest gig was Hamilton where the inside of his tent frosted over.

He said, “You can get people to literally do everything for you. They can watch your kids, they can watch your pets. They can clean your home. They can pick you up from A to B, or bring you your food. So, this is just an extension of that. You can get people to do just about anything, within reason, as long as it’s legal and you want to pay.”

Life on Earth requires a lot of “fine tuning.” Our planet is just the right distance from the Sun to allow freezing and melting, and the planetary axis tilted just so for seasons. There is a moon for tides to circulate and cleanse shores and oceans, an atmosphere to distribute heat (otherwise the sun-side would cook as the night-side froze), and a magnetic field that contributes to our protection from harmful solar radiation.

That all these needs were met (and many more) is all a big (coincidence) for evolutionists – we just lucked out and got just what we needed.

But we didn’t need rainbows. And yet, as astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez recently noted, we’re on the only planet in the Solar System to get them. What’s needed for a rainbow is:

Suspended water droplets in the atmosphere and the direct sunlight that results from the sun being between the horizon and 42 degrees altitude. This typically occurs just after a thunderstorm has passed and small droplets are still in the atmosphere, and the sky is clearing in front of the sun. Seems like a simple setup. This must be a common phenomenon in the cosmos, right?

But it isn’t so simple. Our moon doesn’t have the atmosphere. Mars doesn’t have the moisture. Venus has too thick an atmosphere and as we head further out, the other planets don’t have liquid water. So, the only planet to have rainbows is the only one with people on it to see them. To evolutionists that’s just one more (coincidence). To God’s people, just another example of his love and care. It’s as if someone has been trying to get our attention with a pretty shiny object writ large across the sky, saying, “Look here. ... This is important!” “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth” (Gen. 9:13).

With a subway system as lengthy and mysterious as that overseen by the Metropolitan Transit Authority, there are bound to be a few surprises here and there, but investigators were unprepared for what they found in the storage room at Grand Central Terminal below Track 114.

The MTA Inspector General summed it up in a recent statement:

Many a New Yorker has fantasized about kicking back with a cold beer in a prime piece of Manhattan real estate--especially one this close to good transportation … But few would have the chutzpah to commandeer a secret room beneath Grand Central Terminal and make it their very own man-cave, sustained with MTA resources, and maintained at our riders' expense.

Authorities say that three MTA employees, a wireman, a carpenter, and an electrician, had outfitted the room with a futon, a refrigerator, microwave, some exercise equipment, and a large-screen TV, complete with a content-streaming device connected. The room was found after a series of anonymous tips reporting its existence. The three employees have been suspended without pay, pending the results of the investigation. In the interim, MTA officials insist that all of the rooms at Grand Central are under review to ensure their proper utilization.

Possible Preaching Angle:

When people who are commissioned to serve the community end up siphoning off resources for themselves, their selfishness betrays the heart of their mission. God’s people are to act with the highest standards of integrity; otherwise, the mission is compromised.

Stephane Breitwieser is “perhaps the most prolific art thief in history,” said Michael Finkel in GQ. The Frenchman has robbed more than $1.4 billion worth of art from nearly 200 museums and steals like he is performing a magic trick, without violence or a frantic getaway.

When 47-year-old Breitwieser sees a piece he likes, he says, “I get smitten. Looking at something beautiful, I can’t help but weep.” He never sells anything he steals, but simply brings the piece home to adore. “The pleasure of having,” he says, “is stronger than the fear of stealing.”

He became hooked after lifting an antique pistol from a French museum at age 22, and by the early 2000s he averaged a theft every two weeks. His trick is acting as casually as possible and waiting for a distraction, sometimes slipping paintings under his oversize coat while on guided museum tours. He did many heists with his longtime girlfriend, who’d cough softly when someone approached as he unscrewed display cases with a small Swiss Army knife. At an art fair in Holland, Breitwieser heard someone shout “Thief!” and turned to see security guards tackle another burglar. He nabbed a painting amid the commotion.

Arrested and imprisoned several times, Breitwieser was caught yet again last month after French police discovered Roman coins and other objects in his home, allegedly taken from museums in France and Germany. “Art has punished me,” he says.

Possible Preaching Angle: Greed; Temptation; Original Sin – This guilty person says, “Art has punished me.” But really it is the power of sin and yielding to temptation that truly punished this man.

In his book, John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group, recounts an event that highlights the importance of contentment.

There was a party given by a billionaire hedge fund manager on Shelter Island. The successful author Kurt Vonnegut informs, Joseph Heller, another successful author, that their host had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch-22 over its whole history. Heller responds. “Yes, but I have something he will never have … enough.”

In 2018, Harvard Business School undertook a first-of-it's-kind study of over 4000 millionaires in the United States asking them about how much money it would take to make them happy. Each millionaire was asked to report how much they currently had. How happy they were on a scale of 1-10. And then how much money they thought they would need to get to a "10" on the happiness scale. Shockingly, 26%, the largest response was assigned to "10x more," the largest possible option given. 24% chose "5x more" followed by 23% at "2x mores." Only 13% of respondents said they "currently have enough to be happy."

Perhaps most surprising of all, this answer was consistent no matter how much money a person had. This means that someone with 100 million was just as likely as the person with 10 million to select they needed "10x" the amount of money they had to be truly happy. In an interview with The Atlantic, lead researcher Michael Norton suggested that the problem for so many millionaires is comparison. So the question of happiness is not so much "Do I have enough?" but "Do I have more than those around me?"

Norton concluded, "If a family amasses $50 million dollars but moves into a neighborhood where everyone has more money, they still won't be happy. All the way up the spectrum of wealth, basically everyone says [they’d need] two or three times as much to be perfectly happy."

How much would it take for us to have enough money? Remarkably, studies show that most people, regardless of income, answer the question the same way: We need about 10% more to feel comfortable. Ten percent will make a difference, and whether we earn $30,000 per year or $60,000 or $250,000 or a cool million, just 10% more is what we want.

When people are asked the same question over time, Loyola Marymount University Professor Christopher Kaczor reports "when they do get that 10%, which typically happens over the course of a few years, they want just another 10%, and so on, ad infinitum." This reality prompted British psychoanalyst Joan Riviere to make the following observation: "by its very nature [greed] is endless and never assuaged; and by being a form of the impulse to live, it ceases only with death."

Customized dining has never been easier, according to a recent Washington Post article outlining the proliferation of tell-them-what-you-want food chains. Similar to burrito joint Chipotle (where diners watch as an employee builds them a custom Mexican-inspired meal), new franchises bring the ultimate in custom-food to Korean, 5-minute cook time pizza, tacos, Indian, and Mediterranean restaurants.

Possible Preaching Angle:

It's a great thing for diners, but also prompts us to ask—in a culture where everything is convenient and exactly how you want it, what will happen to the spiritual growth experienced when we think of the world as a place where we don't get our way?

By 30 years old, Sam Polk had made more than $5 million in bonuses alone during eight years working on Wall Street. As a trader, he was living it up in Manhattan by the age of 25. Polk said, "It was an easy thing to go to a World Series game, which for a lot of people was like a dream. [I had] a tremendous feeling of importance and power especially as a 25-year-old kid."

But at the age of 30, he abruptly quit his job on Wall Street. Despite the money Polk had been making, he was still consumed by envy. He went on to work at a hedge fund, and his obsession with money only got worse. In a New York Times op-ed, he wrote:

Now, working elbow to elbow with billionaires, I was a giant fireball of greed. I'd think about how my colleagues could buy Micronesia if they wanted to, or become the mayor of New York City. They didn't just have money; they had power … Senators came to their offices. They were royalty.

Polk describes getting angry over a $3.6 million bonus because it wasn't big enough. He realized that he had what he know calls "a wealth addiction." Polk explained:

I came to realize I had been using money as this thing that would quell all my fears. So I had this belief that maybe someday I would get enough money that I would no longer be scared … I would feel successful. And one of the things I learned on Wall Street was no matter how much money I made, the money was never going to do it.

The New York Times reported on a major study that tracked 1,761 people who got married and stayed married over the course of 15 years. The article reported that "newlyweds enjoy a big happiness boost that lasts, on average, for just two years. Then the special joy wears off and they are back where they started, at least in terms of happiness." These findings have been confirmed by several more studies.

Christian author Gary Thomas illustrates these findings by using the image of an hourglass. Thomas says,

The moment you become smitten by someone—the second you find yourself deeply "in love"—is the moment that hourglass gets turned over. There is enough sand in that hourglass, on average, to last you about twelve to eighteen months. On occasion, the sand may trickle down a bit beyond that, up to about two years, but never by much and not with the same intensity. The average life span of an infatuation is almost always less than two years.

Yes, sexual chemistry and romantic attraction can remain [or be revived, but those romantic feelings will be revived, but they cease to be the main glue that holds a relationship together on a day-to-day basis. Feelings become "warm and dependable" more than "hot and excitable." God simply did not design our brains to sustain a lifelong infatuation.

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Marriage; Dating; Premarital Counseling—This is a great example for the need to develop a long-term commitment in marriage. (2) God's Love; God, covenants of—This illustration could also be used to contrast our limited human love with God's everlasting covenant love—that is, God doesn't have an hourglass!

Picture this: a bride and groom dashing out of the church, through the showers of birdseed and into the limo, all aglow with the light of love from the vows they've just taken. In the backseat of the car, en route to the reception, they embrace and kiss. Then the groom announces that he has something to say.

Now you realize, my dear, that, as far as I'm concerned, we can't really say we're married, because I don't know yet what kind of wife you'll turn out to be. I hope for the best, of course. And I'll help you all I can. But only at the end of our lives will I be able to tell if you've lived up to my expectations. If you have—then, and only then, I'll agree that we truly got married today. But if you don't, then as far as I'm concerned we were never married at all. After all, how can I call you my wife if you fail to be a wife to me?

Under such circumstances, it will not be a happy honeymoon—if there's one at all. A wife cannot be a wife if her whole existence as wife is conditional and under constant scrutiny (likewise for a husband). She will certainly fail. This groom has completely misunderstood [the power of marriage to transform the beloved]. The couple that tied the knot only 60 minutes ago is every bit as married as the couple celebrating their 60th anniversary. Whatever happens in the course of the marriage does not affect the "married-ness" of that couple.

Possible Preaching Angles: Justification by Faith, Gift of Salvation—In the same way, how can we be expected to love and trust a God always watching us like a hawk to see if we fail? Right standing with God isn't something that we have to generate from within ourselves. Right standing with God is a free gift—and that's what helps us grow to trust, love, and obey God.

Nancy Ortberg tells the story about how their family dog, a golden retriever named Baxter, would get covered with ticks. So after doing some research about ticks, here's what she discovered:

They actually call ticks "the overeaters of the insect world." For those of you who are really technical in your biology … they're of the arachnoid family; they're not really insects.

[Ticks] have the disease of "more," and when they latch on they can't stop. Before a tick lands on its host it's not very attractive, but it is very flat. Then a tick drops onto (because they do not have the capacity to jump) from a bush or a thicket onto their host, looking for a warm-blooded creature. Once they engorge themselves with the host's blood, they balloon up to 7-10 times their normal size. They're utterly transformed.

The fascinating thing is once a tick has bloated up it automatically drops off the host and then can't move. All of the energy in its body is directed to digesting what it's just eaten. For the next few hours it is at the mercy of predators because it has eaten so much that it can't move.

Nancy Ortberg claims there can be a parallel with our spiritual lives. She says, "I have to admit that when I consider what I learned about ticks, there's a little bit of a tick in me. I can be sometimes a picture of excess, not knowing when to say 'enough,' not knowing when to stop, and always wanting more."

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Contentment vs. Discontentment—When do we ever have enough? (2) Spiritual growth—Sometimes we approach our life with Christ like the tick—ther's all intake but not opportunity to pour out to others.

In his book The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien's hero, Bilbo Baggins, must cross paths with a terrifying dragon named Smaug. But as Bilbo creeps into Smaug's dragon-den, Bilbo is no longer overcome by fear. Instead, the lure and the lust of Smaug's vast treasures of gold captivate his heart. Tolkien calls it "staggerment," and here's how he describes the scene:

The glow of Smaug! There he lay, a vast red-golden dragon, fast asleep; a thrumming came from his jaws and nostrils, and wisps of smoke, but his fires were low in slumber. Beneath him, under all his limbs and his huge coiled tail, and about him on all sides stretching away across the unseen floors, lay countless piles of precious things, gold wrought and unwrought, gems and jewels, and silver red-stained in the ruddy light.

Smaug lay, with wings folded like an immeasurable bat, turned partly on one side, so that the hobbit could see his underparts and his long pale belly crusted with gems and fragments of gold from his long lying on his costly bed. Behind him where the walls were nearest could dimly be seen coats of mail, helms and axes, swords and spears hanging; and there in rows stood great jars and vessels filled with a wealth that could not be guessed.

To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all. There are no words left to express his staggerment …. Bilbo had heard tell and sing of dragon-hoards before, but the splendor, the lust, the glory of such treasure had never yet come home to him. His heart was filled and pierced with enchantment and with the desire of dwarves; and he gazed motionless, almost forgetting the frightful guardian, at the gold beyond price and count.

This is a story of 30-year-old friends who had a reunion and were discussing where they should go for dinner. Somebody suggested that they meet at the Glowing Embers Restaurant because the waiters and waitresses there are young and beautiful. They all agreed. Fifteen years later, at 45 years of age, they met and discussed again where they should have dinner. Somebody suggested the Glowing Embers because the food and wine selection there are very good. They all agreed. Another 15 years later at 60 years of age, they once again discussed where to meet. Somebody suggested the Glowing Embers because you can eat there in peace and quiet and the restaurant is smoke free. They all agreed.

Another fifteen years later, at the age of 75, the group discussed again where they should meet. Somebody suggested that they should meet at the Glowing Embers because the restaurant is physically accessible and they even have an elevator. They all agreed. Finally, 15 years later at the age of 90, the same group of friends discussed one more time where they should meet for dinner. Somebody suggested that they should meet at the Glowing Embers because they had never been there before. And they all agreed.

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Old Age—Obviously in a gently humorous way this story highlights the reality of growing older. (2) Spiritual Forgetfulness or Unfaithfulness—This story also illustrates our tendency to forget the bedrock truths of our spiritual lives. (3) God's Covenant of Love for Us—The Lord does not forget us; he remembers to bless and redeem us (see Gen. 8:1).