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Why You Can't Have Everything
March 31, 2012

Have you ever noticed that some people seem happy no matter with where they are, what they are doing, or what they have? These are the type of people who won't considerit a hardship if they do not always get something new. They get by with what they have. On the other hand, you probably know some people who always need something new. If they don't have something new, they do not feel happy. At certain times in life, it is normal to focus on what is new. When we were very little children, everything was new to us. For those of us who are older, we are often taken back to this time in our life when we are around little children, or the baby pet it our life. Just this evening my dog, still a puppy, was chasing a flying moth as we were going for our evening walk. To my puppy, the moth was something new, and he wanted to enjoy the moth. In the lives of all living things, there is a time when everything is new, and it is normal to have a focus on what is new. One of the wisest men in the Bible recorded this thought as part of his reflection on the human experience.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

The human experience has it all. In our life, we will see good, and we will see evil. We will be happy and we will be sad. We were born, and one day, we will die. We hear of wars and rumors of war, and one day we will see peace. And for those who are younger, just about everything is new to them. The older you get, the fewer new things you encounter, because you will have already seen many different things. When you are younger, it is normal to see something new and want it, and depending upon your family you will at least get some of what you want. And as you get older, you will start to amass a collection of stuff that is all about you. For many children, their stuff revolves around clothes and toys, books, and favorite electronic devices. What was cool to play with at age three is boring by age four, and once we hit the big second grade we don't want to be caught dead playing with the little first grader. This is how we are when we are younger. We grow, we develop, and our experiences begin to mold who we will become. And in line with what is recorded for us in the book of Ecclesiastes, there is time to keep and a time to cast away. In childhood, there is a time to keep the toys we have been given, and there is a time to give up the same toys. One of the reasons why we can't have everything is because in our life there are times when we receive and there are times when we give away. Even when we give away, we often give away with the idea of getting more, and this is also recorded for us in the Bible.

Proverbs 27:20
Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

There is going to be something our eyes see that catches our attention. We want what we see, and sometimes, the more we see something, the more we want it. And when we see others around us with that something, the more we really want it. This is what causes peer pressure to be so powerful. It's not that those around us have all this power. It is we allow them to take this power from us. This verse shows why advertising works. Advertising is all about showing how others have something that we might like. This becomes a system that repeats itself as long as we allow it to. Another reason why we can't have everything is also found in this verse. It is normal to want something we do not have, so even if it were possible to have everything, what we would probably want is to have less of what we have, because it is a normal part of the human condition to not be satisfied with what we have. So with the idea that we can't have everything we also need to understand that the quest to get something new is not always good itself. One of the ways we get new things is by learning. Learning is an important job for everyone, and for those who are younger and still in school, it is their main job. So if learning is your main job, you have to do your best job learning. Have you ever asked yourself what is the purpose of learning? Imagine for instance if we lived in a world where everybody learned and did nothing else. Imagine how messy the world would be. There would be no time to take out the trash because we would all be too busy learning. Ironically, while learning about the dangers of garbage pollution and diseases related to uncleanliness, we would allow these conditions to consume us. Even in learning, we can focus so much on something new, we forget about doing anything with what we already have. It would be sort of like wanting a basketball so bad, all you could think about was the basketball. You could imagine yourself dunking the basketball through the hoop and making incredible three point shots. And imagine how silly this would be if all along you had a basketball in your bedroom that you could already use. This would be a good waste of a basketball. Sometimes we do this in learning, and the Bible warns us not to allow this to happen. We can be learning, and never able to use what we learn. In the end time, the apostle Paul warned that there would be those who would always be learning and never able to use the power of their knowledge.

Timothy 3:1-7
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

The big reason why we can't have everything is given to us in this verse. The way we have a form of godliness and deny its power is by not using the knowledge of how to live that God gives us. While there is a time in our lives to be learning, there is also a time to productively use what we have learned. A scholarship fund correctly states that a mind is a terrible thing to waste, and sometimes a mind is wasted because although the mind has learned many things, what the mind has learned is never used productively. Teachers will say knowledge is power. It is better to say knowledge empowers us. Whether we choose to use the knowledge that we are given is up to us. The fact that God expects us to use our knowledge to empower ourselves and others around us is a reason we can't learn everything. Sometimes instead of learning, we have to use what we have already learned to solve problems. So we have learned that in life there are times to do certain things. Sometimes we get and sometimes we give. Sometimes we learn, and sometimes we do things with what we have already learned. We can't have everything in life.

All verses are from the King James Version.
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