Donald Trump is the most powerful man in the world and he doesn’t seem to know it.
He is worth 3.5 billion dollars. He recently upgraded from the Trump Tower to the White House. He travels the world on Air Force One. He leads the executive branch of the most influential nation in the world. He is the commander in-chief of the world’s greatest military. And he is privy to the Gold Codes, the launch codes for the most powerful nuclear weapons in the world.
However earlier this week, Donald Trump complained on Twitter that television hosts were “speaking badly of him.” I don’t know which is more shocking: Trump’s presidency or his desire for more.
After his improbable victory in the American election over Hilary Clinton last November, Donald Trump complained that he failed to win the popular vote over Hilary Clinton because of voter-fraud. Then at his inauguration, he suggested that the crowd size at his inauguration was the largest in America history and much larger than reported by the media. And when the latest season of Trump’s former show, Celebrity Apprentice, premiered with its new host, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Trump tweeted:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/817348644647108609
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/817350726800306177
Donald Trump is a multibillionaire. He is the president of the United States. He is the most powerful man in the world. Yet, he wants more. He wants more votes. He wants more crowds. He wants more ratings. And he will never be satisfied.
Yet, Trump is not unlike you and me. We too want more. We envy. We covet. We lust. And we will never be satisfied.
We were elected for salvation before the foundation of the world. We are justified by the blood of God. We have redemption and forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ. We have been given the Holy Spirit. We are being made into the image of Christ. We have been adopted as children by God. We have an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for us. We have every spiritual blessing. And we have been given the gift of faith, which is more precious than gold.
Yet, we want more. We are envious of others. We sometimes want to be made into the image of a celebrity, not Christ. Sometimes we envy even our own friends. We imagine that their lives are surely better than ours. They have better jobs, better relationships, and better bank accounts. And though we have every spiritual blessing, we covet every material blessing too. We forget what we have and fixate on what we don’t have. We lust after our neighbours’ wives. We watch porn. We want more.
“An arrogant man is never at rest. His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he has never enough. He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples.” (Habakkuk 2:5)
Sin is like a disease. It spreads and leads to death. Lust becomes porn. Porn becomes masturbation. Masturbation becomes fornication. Fornication becomes adultery. Adultery becomes death. Our envy, covetousness, and lust cannot be satisfied. If we were to become the most powerful person in the world, we would be unsatisfied; if we were gain the whole world, we would still want more.
However, we believers have gained something better than the world: God’s love. Donald Trump was elected by people. We are elected by God’s love. Donald Trump wants to be approved by people. We are approved by God’s love. Should we be envious of others when we are being shaped into the image of Christ? Should we be covetous when God is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think? Should we lust after artificial love when we are loved by God?
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)