Be Prosperous

As I read this passage in Deut. chapter 8 I was reminded to be careful not to get so full of myself in the Pursuit if Happiness.

11-16 Make sure you don't forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up—make sure you don't become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God,

the God who delivered you from Egyptian slavery;
the God who led you through that huge and fearsome wilderness, those desolate, arid badlands crawling with fiery snakes and scorpions;
the God who gave you water gushing from hard rock;
the God who gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never heard of, in order to give you a taste of the hard life, to test you so that you would be prepared to live well in the days ahead of you.

17-18 If you start thinking to yourselves, "I did all this. And all by myself. I'm rich. It's all mine!"—well, think again. Remember that God, your God, gave you the strength to produce all this wealth so as to confirm the covenant that he promised to your ancestors—as it is today.

19-20 If you forget, forget God, your God, and start taking up with other gods, serving and worshiping them, I'm on record right now as giving you firm warning: that will be the end of you; I mean it—destruction. You'll go to your doom—the same as the nations God is destroying before you; doom because you wouldn't obey the Voice of God, your God. (Deut. Chapter 8 Message Translation)

Looking at those last couple of verses and then looking at all of the gods that are pursued in our world and especially our country i realize once again that we were warned. We are supposed to learn from the mistakes of those who went before us, not repeat them. But we, like the Israelites, simply see what is right in front of us and we are a fickle people. My lawn is never good enough to suit me.

Thank you God for the lifestyle that you have blessed me with. I know that others have it better and many seem to have it worse. Yet those who have it worse seem to love you more. I am sorry for valuing the things more than I should.