We live in a world of options.
If I want to buy a pair of shoes, I can do a quick internet search and come up with more options than I can possibly process.
So, I pick just one online retailer, but even then, I could easily lose an hour scrolling and clicking through pages of shoes. So, I must filter.
First, I pick one (or more) of the ten+ styles and one hundred+ brands. Then some color options, a price range, and only those with a high rating. Still, I have over fifty options.
So, I search for “best _____ shoes” and get several articles devoted to parsing the fine distinctions between the footbeds and shoelaces of each of these options. In some cases, the articles reach different conclusions. I pick a few of the shoes mentioned and delve deep, reading reviews on multiple websites and comments left at different retailers. I decide on two different pairs. I agonize about the sizing: Should I buy a half size lower or higher? What about a wide? I decide to buy two sizes of each pair.
This all takes about a week, filling in many of the gaps between work, sleep, and family time and leaving me thankful for the end.
I receive the shoes. I definitely like one pair, but something seems off. I think the smaller size is still too big. I wear them around the house. I agonize. I decide to buy the next size down. I wait two days. I try on the new pair. They seem too small! I keep the original pair. I return the other four pairs. I am done. Now I have my shoes. Now I can enjoy them.
But as the week goes on, I am plagued but the haunting thought: What if I picked the wrong one? Now I’m sure these are too big. And a coupon in my email tells me last year’s model is available cheaper at a different retailer.
Fear of Something Better
Does this sound familiar? And this is all for just one pair of shoes. In a given week I could easily be sucked into doing the same for a phone, a pair of sunglasses, a pain reliever, and a spatula.
These are the waters the next generation swims in. Everything about our era screams: There’s something better out there—a better product, a better significant other, a better lifestyle, a better pleasure, a better job, and a better home.
Here is one truth that this generation needs to hear: Jesus is better.
This truth is peace and life when endless options threaten our contentment and deaden our taste for eternity. Hear what Paul says in Philippians 3:7-9:
“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”
Paul had it all. He came from the right place, was in the right crowd, and did all the right things. But compared to knowing Jesus, he considered all of these as less than nothing. Why? Because Jesus gave him what he was trying and failing to receive in all these other things: righteousness.
It’s not about the shoes. Why do we agonize over finding the right pair of shoes? What are we actually hoping for? We’re hoping for comfort, security, or perhaps the approval of others.
But Jesus is better than the right pair of shoes because Jesus gives us a security that doesn’t wear out (1 Pet. 1:3-5).
Jesus is better than a relationship because God makes an unbreakable covenant with his people (Eph. 5:31-32).
Jesus is better than temporary pleasure because he promises pleasures forevermore (Ps. 16:11).
Having this mindset won’t solve our problem of overwhelming options, but it does put those options into perspective. If Jesus is better, then I can be content. Even something marginally better is less than nothing compared to knowing Jesus.
