Have you ever asked if it is worth it? Proverbs 15:16

     Have  you ever asked yourself, "Is this worth all the trouble?" I am sure most of us have asked that question about many things. We evaluate everything from relationships to cars to cooking to hobbies to anything else that can cause us troubles. At some point we get tired of all the troubles and start evaluating weather the troubles outweigh the benefits or enjoyment. That is how we decide to continue putting up with the troubles or to start over with something else. 

     I fought the battle of troubles vs enjoyment with my Xbox. The original one that came out in 2001. Not that I got it in 2001 because I was married and my daughter was born that year. I finally got mine from a guy at the Jamestown Flea Market a couple years later. I had talked to him a couple of times because I really wanted one. I had an original Nintendo and a Super Nintendo with several games and accessories. After a few weeks of negotiations he agreed to take all my stuff in on trade for a Xbox and a couple of games. I think I gave him $40.00 because I got an extra controller and a

memory card too. I was super excited.

     I played that game system for a long time. For the first year I played it everything was good. Then some things started to happen. First the sound would go off after I played it for a little while. I tried to find somebody to fix it but that proved to be impossible. Everybody kept telling me to call Microsoft. So I finally did after the sound went completely off. That was a joke and not a funny one either. They kept telling me I had it hooked up wrong. I kept telling them that I didn't because the sound worked before. They told me the sound card never messed up on those things. I screamed that mine did. They didn't appreciate me screaming but I think they understood I was frustrated. They offered to give it a "look over" if I would mail it into them. They couldn't give me an estimate on how long it would take or how much it would cost. They did tell me it would cost $80.00 just to have them look at it and that would not include any repairs. I hung up on them. Now they knew I was frustrated and angry. I continued to play my soundless Xbox for a couple of years. It limited the games I could play because many games you needed the sound but I was alright with that because it was better than buying a new system.

     Another problem developed. If I played it for a long period of time it would get hot and cut off. I soon figured out about how long I could play so I would save my game and turn it off before it cut off from getting too hot. It took just a few minutes to cool off and I could start again. Over time the time for overheating got shorter and shorter while the cool off time got longer and longer. I found setting a fan near it would extend the overheating time and shorten the cooling off time. So to play I had to get the fan from beside my bed and set it beside the Xbox so I could play. Then when I finished I had to take the fan back. Soon I started weighing the situation. If I didn't have long to play was it worth all the effort it took to play? Even if I had a while to play was it worth all the effort? Was it as fun without sound? Should I give up and get a new system?  Eventually, I decided to retire my system even if I wasn't able to get another system at that time. It was no longer worth the trouble.
     The battle of benefits vs troubles isn't always as simple as an Xbox. When it comes to relationships, jobs, money, popularity, power and other things that most people crave it gets complicated. We will put up with a lot to get or keep what we really want but there is a point that we reach that makes us start weighing the benefits vs troubles. Proverbs gives us some advice on this battle.
                          Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it.
           Proverbs 15:16 (ESV)

     The advice is this: It is better to have a little and keep your witness than to have a lot and the troubles that follow. Many people are willing to damage their relationship with God to gain something worldly. Maybe for fame, power, money, popularity or promotions at work. They are willing to do what they know is wrong because they think the reward justifies it. It doesn't. Anything you gain by sacrificing your relationship with God will end up costing you more than you gain. What ever gain in God may be little by the worlds standards will be great in God's standards. He will bless it and more importantly bless your relationship with Him. Whatever you gain worldly will eventually pass away but what ever you gain from God will last an eternity. Even the biggest box of bacon in the world will eventually become empty while the smallest blessing from God will never pass away. So is the world's prizes worth the world's troubles? No, stick to what last, blessings from God.

Parting Thought: Life isn't about how fast you run or how high you climb but how well you bounce.