Everyone wants to feel significant. Often we attempt to find that significance through acquisition and accumulation. We strive to acquire the right partner and the right career. We accumulate more things, more money, and more activities. We do all this in an attempt to feel good about ourselves.
In Genesis chapters 29 and 30, you find Jacob and his wives doing the same thing. In these chapters, Jacob strives to acquire the “right” wife and to accumulate more wealth. Jacob’s wives strive to acquire his favor through the accumulation of more children, hoping to be the favored spouse.
Jacob and his wives reaped the consequences of their misdeeds in the form of deception, favoritism, and manipulation. But God still blessed them, not because of their efforts to acquire and accumulate, but because it is God’s nature to bless us…despite who and how we are.
Nothing has changed since the days of Jacob. Even in our modern day of multiple marriages and wearable technology, we’re still trying to squelch our insecurity through acquiring the “right” relationships and accumulating the “right” stuff.
We need to stop striving. (Ps. 46:10) We need to remember that our blessings are a part of God’s nature and not our wages. We need to remember our significance is in our Creator, not in our acquisition and accumulation.
Ask yourself the following questions…and be honest with yourself.
- Am I striving to acquire and accumulate in life?
- What’s driving me to do this?
- Am I trying to prove something to myself, or others?
- Am I trying to earn God’s favor?
- Is this why I’m so tired, worried, discouraged, or frustrated?
You will never realize your significance by acquisition and accumulation. You will only realize your significance by accepting what God has already done for you in Christ.
Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.
