Author: missionspaul

Being a friendly kind of a person one of the things that has consistently been said to me at the start of a piece of news I am going to receive is this: “I know you’re a friend of his but let me tell you something …” Do you know that experience? The person is worried that the friendship will blind you from the truth.

Of course being a friend of someone does help. I received a call from someone recently who brought a complaint about their Pastor. I was able to say “I know him for longer than you. I have never ever seen him in the way you describe him.” Of course it isn’t proof that the Pastor was wrong but my friendship helped.

Paul quoting a Greek poet says in 1 Corinthians 15:33, ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’ It is true that we need to keep a watch over people we walk with so that they do not influence us negatively. Sometimes it is essential that you stop meeting that person for coffee because their friendship is spoiling you.

We are going to see this in the next section in Jesus’ family tree.

“Abijah the father of Asa, Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,

Jehoram the father of Uzziah” (Matthew 1 v 7-8)

Asa was a good king, a reformer who removed the majority of the idols from the land. However, he didn’t finish well. On being confronted by the prophet Hanani, regarding his friendship and alliance with King Ben-Hadad, he threw the prophet in prison. He died from a disease simply because his alliance with the Lord had stopped and he didn’t enquire of Him.

Jehoshaphat was one of Israel’s best kings and known for further reforms of the land bringing people back to Yahweh. But again his friendship was the big mistake of his life. He was reproached by the prophet Jehu for his alliance with King Ahab which ended disastrously for him and his people.

Jehoram was a wicked king. When his grandfather allied with the North to fight the Syrians, Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab (and possible his chief wife, Jezebel) was given to Jehoram in marriage. This alliance in marriage was the undoing of his kingship and God’s people. He took his wife’s religion (an alliance of Baalism with worship of Yahweh) and forced it onto the nation.

Matthew leaves out 3 kings and goes down the line to Uzziah. The word ‘fathered’ can mean descendent anyway. Why he does that is probably because he wants to give a birds-eye view as he races to the entrance of Jesus the King. The interesting thing for us is that there is a connection for us in our group of kings. Uzziah was a good one. He was successful. He had substantial achievements. His fame spread far and wide. He built towers across the land to protect his people and he built cisterns to provide for them. However, his alliance with the Lord would disintegrate. His pride led him to want to take the priestly office and he was struck with leprosy but for such an arrogant presumption of which he died from it and wasn’t even buried amongst the kings. Only in Jesus do we see the role of King, Prophet and Priest.

Not only do we need to be careful with our friendships we must keep connected with a healthy alliance to the Lord.

That may be what the readers are seeing in Matthew’s genealogy.

It is so easy to skip past the genealogy either in Luke or here in Matthew’s gospel.

Matthew decides to open up with his and it is his genealogy. This was never intended to mention all the names, he omits some, probably to help his readers memorise them and definitely to help them see his message. The message is that our tragedies of life have become God’s tragedy; the sadness and the failure of our stories are heading to one person who can absolve all of the world’s pain. That is of course, Jesus.

So here’s some more:

“David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah” (Matthew 1 v 6-7)

Matthew does it again. Having already mentioned Tamar, Rahab and Ruth; he doesn’t even have to mention her name, everyone knows as soon as he says Uriah’s wife: Bathsheba. Why does Matthew mention this, he doesn’t need to? Why doesn’t he allow his readers to focus on the Kingship of David? In fact it is interesting to see the whole verse, we read part of it yesterday:

“and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife”

See how Matthew first records David as King and then removes the title in the next sentence stressing his ordinariness.

That’s the point Matthew is making. “I don’t want you to focus on how special he was but how sinful and ordinary he was. This is not about your superstars of history but about one King, the only King!”

Matthew doesn’t even give Solomon the title King, he was Israel’s third and last. He doesn’t mention how Solomon (the 10^th son of David and 2^nd son of Bathsheba) had divine wisdom or gives no reminder of building the Temple. He simply with a few words reminds us of the immorality.

In the Message translation of Psalm 51 as David writes his feelings in song, he says, “God, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life”, v10.

And that’s exactly what God does for us.

There is nothing God cannot make good and welcome into the kingdom, not even Israel’s greatest sex scandal.

Let’s take in 2 further kings but of the line of Judah. Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, was a wicked king and the 10 tribes abandoned him and so he is known for Israel dividing under his reign. He reigned in Jerusalem only, his servant Jeroboam led the 10 tribes.

Matthew then takes us down the line of the kings of Judah and it seems that he does so alternating between wicked and good. So Rehoboam and Abijah are the wicked kings followed by the good. But we will get to them next.

2 Chronicles 12: 1 “After Rehoboam’s position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israelwith him abandoned the law of the Lord.”

1 Kings 15: 1-3 “In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijah became king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem three years … He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God …”

There are people in this genealogy of Matthew who never changed their ways. There was no redemption story. They were appointed by man, sometimes stealing and killing their way to the top and God doesn’t do anything about it, seemingly. He just watches from afar and permits a cruel story being played out during their tenure.

Don’t you ever wonder why God doesn’t step in more often than He does especially to sort out the injustices?

This is the message. He brings all things whether evil or good under the Lordship of Jesus. There are things and people that God never appointed. But He will take the sex scandals and the wicked injustices and weave them into His scandal and take on His injustice of the treatment of Himself in Jesus. Sometimes you simply cannot sugar coat the event. It is what it is. It only calls for a Saviour to come and to come soon.

Some families seem to go through the most traumatic of experiences. Yesterday I was reflecting on a house fire that was reported on a few days ago where 2 small children lost their lives, their parents survived. How do you get over that? Many in the world have to try. Every day is a struggle.

We are working through some names but they are chosen for a specific reason by Matthew and he gives small indicators to help us see what he is reminding us of in his genealogy of Jesus.

“Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.” (Matthew 1 v5-6)

Ruth was a Moabite and she fell in love and married Mahlon, an Israelite whose family had come to Moab as refugees escaping the famine in Bethlehem. She settled to this new life of marriage. It was upsetting when Mahlon’s father died but they took care of the mother, Naomi. Then after 10 years tragedy strikes, a double-blow. Both Mahlon and his brother die. Naomi is left with neither a husband nor sons. Ruth is a widow. The future is bleak indeed. Naomi returns home and after an argument, Ruth accompanies her. They return and they have one person to blame and it is God. God has wrecked their lives.

The story of Ruth is one of redemption but let us never forget the tragedy that she had to go through. That was steeped in their family story. Obed was born to a mixed-race parentage. However, there could have been an even more cruel twist if the Jewish Midrash is correct. “Boaz was 80 years old and Ruth 40 when they married (Ruth R. 6:2), and although he died the day after the wedding (Mid. Ruth, Zuta 4:13), their union was blessed with a child, Obed”

Family tragedy continues into the next generation with the arrival of Jesse who had 8 sons. But the youngest he never had any thoughts for, it would seem. He considered this son as the runt of the pack. He overlooked him and rejected him. Even though God chose and appointed him can you imagine the pain of that rejection for that son?

Then we come to not just David but King David, the second King of Israel. His name means ‘beloved’ but he found throughout his life that he was certainly not loved by everyone, even the closest of people. His adopted father, Saul, turned on him. David’s Psalm (59) is a song he wrote recollecting his thoughts of the time when Saul sent men to capture him and he fled and escaped through a window. His own son wanted him dead. His own family spent years jostling for power. Not to mention the external strife from the north and southern kingdoms, David just spent years of his life escaping or fighting. He is also remembered for some of his errors of which we will see next.

Can you see this genealogy of Jesus? Stories of tragedy, bitterness, rejection and family strife.

Jesus was born into that family line. If you were to share a story from your family tree. Even if you were to share your own personal story, He knows, because He has stories too.

And that is what is so brilliant about the genealogies!

Within 3 generations there can be a story that is hard to hide because everyone knows what happened.

We don’t need to remind ourselves of the quality that this next 3 generational family as they are mentioned elsewhere in the Bible and the Jewish Talmud. Matthew records them,

“Nahshon, the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,” (Matthew 1 v 4-5)

Nahshon was the divisional leader of the tribe of Judah and would always go first when the Israelites broke camp (Numbers 10:14). The Talmud says he was the first to plunge into the Red Sea as Moses lifted his staff to part it; Salmon marries Rahab (more of that next); Boaz is well-known as the kinsman-redeemer of Ruth (more of that next).

Those are the positive aspects of their lives. However, this family became known for these 2 stories and the reason why Matthew included the names of Rahab and Ruth.

Rahab makes the hall of faith in Hebrews 11 but nonetheless, she was a prostitute and a Canaanite (Joshua 2). It is hard to fully describe the hate that God’s people had for the Canaanites whose culture was pure evil involving child sacrifice to the god Molech. They were evil and proud of it and to bring one into the family line was shocking. But that’s what happened, the daughter-in-law of the important tribal leader was a Canaanite prostitute. They had a son and not only was one family story shocking enough they would eventually have two! Ruth seduced Boaz and he became her husband (Ruth 3) but Ruth was also a Gentile, more than that, she was from Moab. It is hard for us to understand how the Israelites viewed the enemies such as the Moabites. They detested them. Matthew makes sure that everyone knows that this 3 generational family had 2 stories of mixed marriages from an impure and evil culture.

So you may look into your past or even your present and think your family are far from perfect. They may have made decisions that look foolish. They may have chosen partners that you would never have chosen for them.

Nothing changes. Not even the ability of God to weave the broken stories into a divine family line where He makes all things good! If that is your family then this will encourage you and/or make you extremely thankful!

The English word ‘genealogy’ is the translation of the Greek word, ‘Genesis’. This is how Matthew starts his gospel announcing a new beginning. We have had one Genesis already but this is the beginning of the incarnation of God on earth.

Though we don’t read these lists of names normally, they are there as a reminder that Jesus was born into a family line that was as human and ordinary as our own. So let’s continue …

“Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of

Amminadab,” (Matthew 1:3-4)

This genealogy of four generations which cover 450 years is also found at the end of the book of Ruth.

Hezron

He is mentioned in the list of people who took an arduous journey from Canaan to Egypt when Jacob took the 70 family members down to meet Joseph who had been found alive. The list in Genesis 46:12 looks normal except there are brackets ((but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan). Judah’s grandchildren had come under God’s judgment. It was a blight upon the family tree and Hezron along with Hamil are drafted into the line as a replacement, a substitute and they may have even been born in Egypt and are mentioned in the list of those going down as those who were to be born.

“Hezron” means a “walled place” or “enclosure”. Behind this enclosure is a story of shame which Hezron lives with all his life.

Ram

Hezron named his son Ram, born in a place which was not the Promised Land, Egypt. His name means ‘to be raised up’ or simply ‘high’. Maybe living in this high and mighty place had something to do with the name he chose. The Greek translation has the name Aram which then introduces the picture of the nation of Aram (modern day Syria) who would relentlessly rise up and attack Israel.

Today you may wake to a rising ‘enemy’ over your life. They arrogantly overshadow your life. Perhaps this enemy is relentless. Maybe it feels like one man or even a nation of soldiers coming against you.

Amminadab

His name means ‘my people is willing or generous.’ The Israelites now in Egypt had prospered that nation. But this generation of Amminadab was the tearful people as they saw a dynasty arise within Egypt who had forgotten their history of Joseph and what he had brought to the nation. Amminadab’s generation was heading towards slavery and a darkness that they had never known. Maybe Amminadab never saw the Exodus. Perhaps all he knew was hardship.

Past prisons of shame; bouts of fear that grip as an enemy; trapped by debt and heading into slavery. Is that your family line?

This is the family line of Jesus.

Do you have a family secret? That event or person which is a source of embarrassment to the family and which doesn’t get talked about. Most families have them.

In 1987 our Royal Family were dragged through a public outcry when their family secret became public. The Queen’s first cousins, Katherine and Nerissa Bowes-Lyon were declared legally dead in 1963. However, due to their disabilities and mental health they had been institutionalised into the Royal Earlswood Hospital in Redhill, Surrey, since 1941. The reality was that Nerissa died in 1986 and Katherine in 2014.

In the family of Jesus there was also a scandal of great magnitude. Matthew purposely mentions all the relevant names so that everyone remembers it.

“Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar” (Matthew 1:3)

Perez and Zerah were twins but only Perez was in the line of Jesus. So why mention Zerah? Probably to remind everyone of the despicable story which involved the 2 names either side of that verse, Judah and Tamar.

The story is found in Genesis 38.

Judah’s first son, Er, had died because of God’s judgment on him. His wife, Tamar, is married off to his brother, Onan, the second son. He dies again because of God’s judgment. So the third son, Shelah, is in line to take Tamar as his wife, but she is having to wait because he is not an adult. Judah at first makes this a promise but he regrets doing so. I mean, she must be bad luck and he doesn’t want to lose a third son. So Tamar takes matters into her own hands.

Judah had a close friend called Hirah and he goes to spend time with him. He had been with him when he had found his first wife and now that she had died he was looking for another and spending time with Hirah probably seemed like the way for that to happen.

Some people tipped off Tamar who felt rejected and deceived by Judah and she goes to the same town and pretends to be a prostitute. Judah sleeps with her. She wants more payment than the goat he was offering and he gives her his seal, cord and staff. She had played him.

Three months go by and reports are given to Judah that his daughter-in-law was pregnant. He erupts with rage and wants her burned to death. She saves her life by asking him who the seal, cord and staff belongs to who she slept with. He realises that she had done this because he had lied to her regarding his third son. He praises her ingenuity.

The twins are then born and again controversy! Which twin will be first? Who will receive the inheritance? During childbirth Zerah’s hand comes out first and a scarlet thread is tied around his wrist. He gets the inheritance! Wait, no he doesn’t, because Perez breaks through (that’s the meaning of his name) and is born first. Scandal!

That’s the family secret hidden behind the names. Matthew records all the names, Zerah and Tamar don’t need to be mentioned. He could have just said, ‘Judah fathered Perez’ but warts and all, this is the story, remember?

Of course as with all our stories we can see a thread of grace, redemption, sovereignty amongst many other things that God weaves.

Tamar’s determination to keep the bloodline of Judah continuing through levirate marriage to her father in law. Perez the person who wasn’t chosen and isn’t first but breaks through because God chose him.

We see the positives looking back. But they are the good from the bad.

Your family may not read like a romantic sweet story which has a U family viewing rating. It may be an 18 certificate! If it is then it is akin to the story of Jesus because the genesis of Jesus comes from sinful, ordinary people, like us.

If you wake up today and are doubting in any way that you are just not quite good enough then you are amongst tremendous company as you read the opening verses of Matthew’s gospel:

“This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers” (Matthew 1: 1-2)

The English word ‘genealogy’ is the translation of the Greek word, ‘Genesis’. This is how Matthew starts his gospel, written perhaps at the time that Peter and Paul was still alive (approx. AD60) and maybe to the church of Antioch in Syria. Perhaps and maybe because there are many opinions.

This is the new beginning. We have had one Genesis already but this is the beginning of the incarnation of God on earth.

Matthew’s list is different to Luke’s. Matthew’s descends father to son and Luke’s is the reverse. Matthew’s line goes through Joseph and Luke’s goes through Mary. Matthew’s is shorter.

How far back can you go with your own family tree? I can only go back to grandad Joe. I think most people can only go back 3 generations. We don’t necessarily get taken up with our past. What about those in the family of faith? Who brought you to Christ? Who brought them? Who brought them? Same problem perhaps. We are more focused on the now and the future than our past. I’m not sure whether I am in some mid-life existential crisis or not but having suffered grief over recent years I keep thinking about those before me.

But maybe we will be helped by thinking on how Matthew starts his gospel.

The beginning of Christ came through the covenants of God. Jesus is the son of David, the fulfilment of the covenanted promised figure, a Messiah for the Jews, who would save them from their enemies. But Jesus is also the son of Abraham who also had a covenant that the Messiah from his line would be for all the nations of the world.

Forty times Matthew uses the word ‘father’ or ‘fathered’ leading to the crescendo of the announcement of Jesus Christ who was not ‘fathered’ by Joseph but incarnated through Mary.

But before we move into the perfect Christmas story we cannot without having a brief look at these names who were the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah.

Let us consider Abraham. But let us see the humanity, the ordinariness, not the stardom of saintliness.

Abraham who impregnated a slave-girl called Hagar who was not his wife. Abraham who lied that his wife was his sister, twice!

Isaac carried on from his father and also lied about his wife and he was a weak father to his children Jacob and Esau.

Jacob known as the deceiver, exploited his brother Esau and stole his blessing. He married 2 sisters.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob seen by generations as the patriarchs, the fathers of the faith are the beginning of Jesus, according to Matthew’s gospel. This is his good news that ordinary, sinful people are in the line of Jesus. The Messiah comes into that line of impetuous deceiving liars.

So today you think you are not as good as some. You may want to pull out of the race because you don’t feel you deserve to be running it. Well take heart because the good news of Matthew is you are not alone.

Sadly we are now at the end of this beautiful letter to the Philippians.

The Apostle wrote this from a place he did not want to be in.

We don’t know exactly whether that was in prison in Ephesus, AD52-55; or Caesarea AD 57-59; or under house arrest in Rome 61-62 AD (see Acts 28: 16, 30-31)

In any case he writes to the Church in Philippi which was a Roman colony.

Bear with me as we think of what was happening in the Roman Empire at that time. A brief plotted history:-

Domitius was born in AD37, the only surviving male descendent of Caesar Augustus.

His mother, Agrippina, married her uncle, Caesar Claudius, in AD49.

Claudius adopted Domitius who was re-named Nero.

Agrippina poisoned Claudius so that her son, Nero, could be the Caesar.

At first Caesar Nero led well under his advisors but after they died or retired he went wild.

In AD59 he had his own mother, Agrippina, put to death.

In AD62 he divorced his wife, Octavia, then had her executed and married his mistress, Poppaea, which didn’t last long and reportedly he actually kicked her to death!

In AD64 he blamed the fire in Rome on the Christians and began a cruel, torturous persecution against them.

On the 9^th June AD68 he committed suicide.

You may wake up in a nation of the world today and look at your wicked government and you may describe them like Nero. Nevertheless, let us read the last few verses of this letter and read something powerful:

“Greet all God’s people in Christ Jesus. The brothers and sisters who are with me send greetings. All God’s people here send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen” (Philippians 4 v 21-23)

“… especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.”

Isn’t that remarkable?!

What is your environment like today?

Those who will go to work, perhaps you are working in a very unchristian workplace, Maybe the pressure is constantly on you as you are living as a light in the darkness. This is your mission field whether or not you are restricted in what you can say or not. You may want to live and work amongst Christians 24 hours a day but you are here in this place and God has appointed you to be there. You have a value system that is better than those around you and they need to see it in the way you respond and react to things. You are being watched even when you don’t realise it. Your testimony is being shared even without words. When the opportunity comes to speak then you must take it. This is your mission.

Remember, even people in the household of Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus can be saved!

I have left the verses showing so that you can see them as we briefly look through this passage coming to a close of this amazing letter of Philippians.

“Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. ¹⁵ Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; ¹⁶ for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. ¹⁷ Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. ¹⁸ I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. ¹⁹ And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. ²⁰ To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Philippians 4: 14-20)

The following are bullet points and brief purposely wanting us to pause and consider what God might be saying to you individually on certain matters.

Giving to need is sharing in the problem of the need, v14

• You are there even when you cannot physically be. (Paul was in prison far away)
• You feel the weight of the burden

Just because it is a Church doesn’t mean it is generous, v15 (note Paul mentions churches who didn’t give)

• The spirit of entitlement can live in the pulpit and the pew but the centre of the world isn’t there.
• The spirit of poverty that develops in the Church can cripple its mission.

Giving means new churches can be established, v16

• Paul was planting Thessalonica and was able to do so because of a giving church 100 miles away.
• One of the reasons why new churches are not planted is because of a lack of financial budgeting for such.

It is more blessed to give than to receive, v17

• Jesus said these words though it’s not quoted in the gospels, but Paul knew the quote (Acts 20:35). Jesus who gave his all knew what this exactly would mean.
• The joy of seeing others happy because of what we have given is a feeling like no other.

Giving is an offering that is a sacrifice which pleases God, v18

• We may think we are giving to people but the gift goes to God
•  Giving means God receives.

Giving results in our needs being met, v19

• If God receives then God is going to meet every need of your life.
• God has riches more than you could ever possible have by holding on to yours. Release yours and receive His.

Giving glorifies God, v20

• Throughout generations God will be seen through a giving Church.
• So let it be. Amen. Let it happen. Get right with your giving today.

In 1965 the Rolling Stones sang, ‘I can’t get no Satisfaction’ and 55 years later it is still an anthem that is as relevant as the day it was released.

In 1987 U2 sang, ‘I still haven’t found what I’m looking for’ and 33 years later it is still a classic that in the words of Bono is “an anthem of doubt more than faith.”

In 2020 are we satisfied? Have we found what we are looking for?

In 2019 in the Government’s annual population survey, which captures data from 320,000 people across the nation, people’s sense of satisfaction and ‘feeling that things done in life are worthwhile’ dropped. Just over half of Britons are happy. Those who have high anxiety levels are around 20%. But that was last year. I wonder what it is in 2020?

We are going to read a verse which is often taken out of context to mean that God will enable us to do what is set before us. We will read it in the context it was written and see it is not about doing but about being content with what is happening and where I am.

“I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4: 10-13)

Remember Paul is in prison. Where are you today?

Remember also how one of the reasons for him writing to the Philippians was to thank them for the gift they sent him in prison. He has done that and mentions it again in this section but he also tells them that he is not needing things to help him get through. In fact he doesn’t anything. He has had it all and he has had nothing and he is probably in that circumstance right now. But that hasn’t come easy. Notice he uses the word ‘learned’. This has been a lesson in life, a work in progress, he has been tested in it and he has learned.

I haven’t studied Seneca or Epictetus, but these Stoic philosophers are appearing again in many popular books as I walk around Waterstones. These men believed that a good mental health cultivates happiness. Nothing deep about that perhaps. But they also teach that happiness comes when we know we can control hardly anything except what we think about our circumstances. Life happens and if we decide to think a situation is bad then we will become unhappy but if we view it as having meaning and purpose then we will be happy.

Paul is not using Stoic philosophy, he has his own.

Neither am I advocating some ‘put a smile on your face’ happy clappy attitude. There are times such as in grief when we mourn with those who mourn. There are sad times in our lives and we are wrong to minimise the hurt that people go through.

Paul teaches us how he has learnt to be content and the word here means to be independent of external circumstances.. He has learnt how because of Christ. Jesus has given him the ability to be self-sufficient. Christ has enabled him to live independently.

How?

For my own journey the closer I get to Jesus the more I live contented. The more I think on him and who He is the less ‘stuff’ becomes necessary for my contentment.