Practically everyone today is looking for a peg. We are asked what kind of life, what kind of family, what kind of devotional life or faith we want to have and we often answer with another person in mind as a template or goal we would like to reach.
We want to be as rich and successful as Warren Buffet. We want to be as charismatic as Tony Robbins. We want to be as impactful as Mother Teresa or Nelson Mandela. It's perfectly normal to have someone to look up to and admire and most often the goals we set are something that someone has already reached, but where do we draw the line between inspirational admiration and unhealthy comparison?
Sometimes comparisons can be helpful, as in the cases mentioned above, but what happens when such comparisons actually become a hindrance to fulfilling God's call for our lives? What if we are sure we want to be entrepreneurs when God is calling us into full-time ministry or even vice versa? What happens when we want all the wealth and fame someone has but not the impactfulness their lives emanate?
Having templates and pegs we want to follow can be completely fine as long as it never comes out of a selfish and covetous motive. When it does, we actually are drawn away from God's plans of great success and not closer to it.
Jesus once said in Luke 12:15, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions" (ESV). The best way to measure whether a heart is ruled by covetousness or not is to ask the question "Why?" Why do I want to become rich? Why do I want to be a doctor? Why am I studying to be an engineer?
If our answer comes out of a desire to gain something we don't have—material possessions, wealth, power or fame—that's a terrible sign. But a heart content in Christ will look to pursue a calling not based on what we can get, but what we can give primarily to God as worship and then secondarily to people as service.
I'm not implying we should work for free or forget about our needs. Often God's way of providing for us is in the context of His calling over our lives. But when we have an unhealthy covetousness over things we wish we had, the core motive of what we do will lead us to the wrong direction most if not all of the time.
When we live in contentment and a full heart knowing that Jesus is the only answer to every need, our call becomes a whole lot clearer to us. When we live lives out of covetousness, we will keep chasing after pegs all our life and probably never come face to face with God's true calling, which will bring true and lasting satisfaction. But when we stop being something just for the sake of fleeting desires. we do them solely to worship and please God, not men.
