There was a game we used to play at sleepovers and birthday parties called “Bigger, Better”. It’s a game of suburban genius. It occupies tween girls for long periods of time, it’s basically free, and always ends with great stories.
There are two teams – each receives $1 and the task to go to different houses in the neighborhood offering what they’ve been given (the dollar) in exchange for something bigger and better.
As neighborhood parents answer their doors at 8pm on Friday evenings, they, too become invested in the team’s success. What can I give you that’s better than what you have? How can I help you win?
Generally, the team that moves the most quickly wins as the more houses you hit, the more chances you have to trade-up for bigger, better things.
The beginning stages move swiftly and are exciting because many things are easily better than the dollar you’ve started with. Yes! A carton of eggs is worth at least $5, so let’s trade.
As the team climbs the ‘bigger better’ ladder though – things become more complicated. Is this good enough? Which option is actually better? Should we un-do our last trade?
Once at a party, we ended up with a respectable, white leather barstool. While a dated barstool may seem mediocre at best to my sophisticated reader base, to me as an eighth grader, it was a 5-foot ivory trophy. I mean, we had started with ONE DOLLAR.
Tired and ready for cake,I advocated we return home. Why bother lugging a barstool around when we were clearly going to win? But my teammates insisted we could beat it. Reluctantly I complied, though we moved a bit more slowly carrying the barstool. It may have taken a few houses before we found the right trade, but our final house rose to the challenge and traded our barstool for a fully functioning vacuum cleaner.
Before accepting the trade, we had a heated group debate given, though a functioning vacuum cleaner was probably better than the barstool, the barstool was clearly larger. Is it superior to have a bigger item or a better item? What would we be graded on? How was the winner going to be decided – exactly? We eventually decided that the vacuum cleaner was so much better that the downsize was worth it.
I can’t remember whether our team won or lost that evening, but the game has stuck with me for years because of how eerily analogous it can be to my own life.
Left to my own devices, I inevitably end up on the bigger, better treadmill. I can easily dizzy myself into confusion with life choices – debating which option is better. Will I be happy with this tradeoff? What are others doing? Will their winnings be better than mine at the end of the game?
But the Christian life is different than this, and we know it. There is no version of “Bigger, Better” in God’s economy. Throughout scripture, over and over, we see it is better to have less and be at peace, than to strive to have more.
Proverbs 17:1 – Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife
Proverbs 15:16 – Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil.
Proverbs 16:16 – How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!
Ecclesiastes 4:6 – Better is a handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.
“Better is”
Not good, not satisfactory, not even worthy. BETTER.
Better is: a dry morsel with quiet, little with the fear of the Lord, wisdom, a handful with quietness. It is better to havethese things than to experience inner turmoil for the riches of gold and silver. Psalm 84:10 says Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.
Why? Because striving, money, status – it all gets us nowhere. There will always be people with less and people with more, so it is all an endless battle. And more importantly, it distracts us from that which is actually worthy of our attention – God himself.
When I get caught in the whirlwind of “Bigger, Better” (which happens much more frequently than I’d like to admit), I go to the truth of scripture and the comfort of prayer.
Scripture reminds me what is actually better in this world and what is waiting in the next. Scripture reminds me that God has my best in mind, even if my version of best may not always align with His. Scripture grounds me in truth.
Prayer, on the other hand, comforts me. I am reminded that I have a loving Father who knows the depths of my heart and loves me still. I am also reminded of the endless ways God has provided in the past (yes financially or physically, but more importantly, emotionally and spiritually).
Christ says He came to Earth that we may have life and have it to the full. May we learn to seek His definition of “full” instead of our own.
