And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?
— 2 Kings 5:26
Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
— Romans 12:16
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek: for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
— Matthew 6:25-32
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
— 1 Timothy 6:6-9
All Are More or Less Deeply Infected With It, by J. C. Philpot. The following contains an excerpt from his work, “Life Given for a Prey.” 1841.
And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: — Jeremiah 45:5 a, b
As we are led aside by the powerful workings of our corrupt nature, we are often seeking great things for ourselves.
Riches, worldly comforts, respectability, to be honored, admired, and esteemed by men—are the objects most passionately sought after by the world. And so far as the children of God are under the influence of a worldly principle, do they secretly desire similar things.
Nor does this ambition depend upon station in life. All are more or less deeply infected with it, until delivered by the grace of God. The poorest man has a secret desire in his soul after “great things,” and a secret plotting in his mind how he may obtain them.
But the Lord is determined that His people shall not have great things. He has purposed to pour contempt upon all the pride of man. He therefore nips all their hopes in the bud, crushes their flattering prospects, and makes them for the most part–poor, needy, and despised in this world. Whatever schemes or projects the Lord’s people may devise that they may prosper in the world, God rarely allows their plans to thrive. He knows well to what consequences it would lead–that this ivy creeping round the stem would, as it were, suffocate and strangle the tree.
The more that worldly goods increase the more the heart is fixed upon them, the more the affections are set upon idols, the more the heart is drawn away from the Lord. He will not allow His people to have their portion here below. He has in store for them a better city, that is a heavenly one–and therefore will He not allow them to seek great things in this poor perishing world.
A child of God may be secretly aiming at great things, such as respectability, bettering his condition in life, rising step by step in the scale of society. But the Lord will usually disappoint these plans, defeat these projects, wither these gourds, and blight these prospects.
God may reduce him to poverty, as He did Job. God may smite him with sickness, as He did Lazarus and Hezekiah. God may take away his wife and children, as in the case of Ezekiel and Jacob. Or God may bring trouble and distress into his mind, by shooting an unerring arrow of conviction into the conscience. God has a certain purpose to effect by bringing this trouble, and that is to pull him down from “seeking great things for himself.” For what is the secret root of this ambition? Is it not the pride of the heart? When the Lord, then, would lay this ambition low, He makes a blow at the root. He strips away imagined hopes, and breaks down rotten props. The great things sought for previously, and perhaps obtained, then fall to pieces.
Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don’t do it. — Jeremiah 45:5 a, b
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