Faithfully yours - How much is enough?

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Published on Sunday, May 21, 2017

Neil Strohschein

The Neepawa Banner

As promised in their campaign, Manitoba’s government has introduced legislation that limits pay increases for government employees. This is one element in an overall plan to reduce the rate of increase in the provincial governments annual expenditures. The other is to look for efficiencies in the system—something that, in my view, may be much more difficult to achieve.

 Reaction to the government’s move was predictable. Those who will be directly impacted by this legislation have called it anything from “scandalous” to “shameful” to “brutally unfair.” Protest marches have been held. Delegations have met with provincial officials. Social, electronic and print media have been flooded with advertisements. We could be in for another long, hot summer in Manitoba—one we won’t be able to blame on climate change (if you get my drift).

Now don’t get me wrong. I do not begrudge anyone a living wage. I believe that people should be compensated for the work they do, and that the rate of compensation should be linked to the training they have taken and their years of experience on the job.

But the question every wage earner needs to ask is this: “How much is enough? Will the pay increase I’m seeking help meet my needs or will it feed my greed?” That’s a tough question to ask; and it will require the highest degree of transparency we can muster to answer it honestly.

Ancient wisdom, found in the writings of St. Paul will help us here. In his first letter to Timothy, he reminds us that “we brought nothing into this world and it is certain that we will carry nothing out. So, if we have food and clothing, let us learn to be content with these.” (1 Timothy 6:7-8) His focus is on our level of contentment—not our level of compensation.

Unfortunately, in our society, the focus has shifted away from contentment to an attitude that the Bible calls “covetousness.” We look at what we have, we compare it with what others have and are taken captive by jealousy, anger and greed—three components of covetousness. We want what they’ve got. If we can’t afford it, we charge it—go into debt to get what we want; believing that when we get it, we will have enough—we will be content. 

But are we content? No! Covetousness is as addictive as a narcotic. We crave, we get, it satisfies us until we see something else that we want. Then the feelings erupt again, we give in to them and incur additional debt. But we are never satisfied. What we have is never enough.

It’s time we took St. Paul’s advice to heart. He was not immune to covetous thoughts. He had them too. But he refused to give in to them. He confronted them head on. He chose the path of self-denial. He did what he advised Timothy to do—he “learned” to be content with what he had.

Breaking the grip covetousness has on us isn’t easy. Contentment is a learned behavior. We must take deliberate steps to reduce the amount we consume. Only buy what we need. Only replace possessions that have worn out. Where we can, downsize. Give away items that we don’t need so that others can make good use of them. We can learn to do more with less; to live more simply.

If you have received what you need for today, thank God for it. If you’ve received more, share it with others. Your generosity will be noted and God will reward you for it.