Old Testament
Ecclesiastes 5:10-12
10 He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity.
11 When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to its owner, except to feast on them with his eyes?
12 The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.
New Testament
1 Timothy 6:6-8
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can’t carry anything out.
8 But having food and clothing, we will be content with that.
Ecclesiastes is unsentimental about accumulation. The one who loves money is never satisfied, and the abundance of the rich does not always buy rest; sometimes it steals sleep. Meanwhile, the labourer’s sleep can be sweet. There is a wisdom here that refuses to confuse ‘more’ with ‘better’.
King Jesus, free us from the tyranny of endless appetite. Give to those who plan and build and invest a wisdom that includes restraint; and teach us to be grateful, to sleep, and to live as people who have been given enough.
Paul names a different kind of gain: godliness with contentment. The word he uses, αὐτάρκεια, is not complacency but sufficiency: enoughness before God. We arrived in the world with empty hands; we will leave the same way. Food and covering are not the whole of life, but they are a reminder that life is received before it is managed.
This matters when we think about growth and sustainability. Growth can be good: jobs, stability, provision. But growth that cannot stop, that cannot rest, that cannot ask what it is doing to land, lungs, and lonely hearts, becomes a form of greed with better manners. Sustainability is not only environmental; it is also human: can families rest, can workers breathe, can children grow without being priced out of ordinary life?