How Much Is Enough?

1 Timothy 6:6-8 But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. 7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. 8 If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.

What does it mean to have enough? What does it mean to have sufficiency in all things? If we cannot take anything with us when we die, then how much do we need during life?

These are all questions that arise from the Scripture lesson which exhorts us to have contentment and godliness. The word for contentment (verse 6) is used only in one other New Testament verse, in 2 Corinthians 9:8, where it is translated as sufficiency. In other words, it means to have enough. So how much is enough? It is a difficult question to answer, and the answer can even be fleeting. To help arrive at the best answer, let’s first answer a different but related question: Enough to do what?

As a missionary, Paul had little need for possessions. He traveled so much that he had no need to maintain a home or carry around baggage. His “home” was in the homes of others who helped him on each leg of his journey. Maintaining a house and carting around baggage would only have slowed his missionary work. To some extent, this is the perspective from which Paul is writing. The same is true of Jesus who had nowhere to lay his head.

So as not to think Paul was only writing from his own perspective, Jesus said not to worry three times in Matthew 6:28-34, including once relating specifically to temporal things to which we look for our welfare. Another way of interpreting His statements would be a caution against accumulating “enough.”

George Müller started out with little and at the end of his life had housed 2,000 orphan children. He never had much and certainly did not have the means to house all those children on his own. The resources came from other people, much like in Paul’s case. For George Müller to first have his own means, he would have had to work many years before helping a single child. So already we have a beginning answer, which is that small amounts can accomplish much when faith and obedience to the Lord are involved.

Once we identify what it is we hope to accomplish, then we can know how much is enough.

“I want to retire with an income of $75,000” is an objective statement that we can use to calculate how much is enough to reach the goal. Using standard investment returns, we can calculate an amount of money that is needed to deliver $75,000 on an annual basis and how much you need to save each month 10, 20 or 30 years before retirement.

“I want to fund 5 full scholarships at a Bible college for students who plan to enter the mission field” is also an objective statement.

“I want to be wealthy” is not objective because it cannot be measured. How would you know if you ever had enough? How do you define wealthy? It means different things to different people.

But then other questions arise, such as why you have a particular objective?

We must not only ask what we are doing in determining how much is enough but also who is behind it. If we are doing something for ourselves, then we will need to first assemble all of the necessary resources before we set out to accomplish the task. If I wanted to retire on $1 million, for example, I would be depending entirely on my own resources and would have to arrange my life around that goal (and this becomes an important point in our quest to answer the question).

If, on the other hand, the Lord was behind what we are doing, we can begin our work just as soon as He opens the door without first having any resources because all of His resources would be at our disposal, and the Lord would be responsible for seeing that we have enough to get the job done. George Müller on his own would have needed years to assemble the resources necessary to build an orphanage. Instead, by relying on the Lord, the first orphanage was opened in a matter of months through resources donated from people George Müller had never before known.

Just as we sometimes tend to complain that we do not have enough, Moses complained that he was not capable of confronting Pharaoh. If a man ever wanted an affirmation of himself from the Lord, Moses is a great starting point. The commentary on Moses’ complaint is exceptional.

Moses’ incapabilities or infirmities are irrelevant. The Lord had set a course to display His glory in Egypt. Nothing about what the Lord set out to accomplish was dependent on Moses having perfect physical features and abilities.

Let me borrow that statement about Moses to complete these thoughts on sufficiency. Whether we have enough is irrelevant. Just as with Moses, the focus is on the Lord. Moses was incapable of convincing Pharaoh to let the people go. This was true despite his infirmities because the Lord ordered it. In the same way, our focus must be on the Lord and not whether we have enough.

When we arrange our lives around a particular purpose or goal that we want to achieve, we can only succeed if we have enough to complete the task. If, on the other hand, we arrange our lives around what the Lord would have for us and allow Him to work through us, whether we ever have enough becomes irrelevant.