Always Want More

The television series Mad Men (created by Matthew Weiner, Lionsgate Television, 2007–2015) tells the story of ambitious ad executives working in one of the most successful ad companies in NYC during a wild, lawless, and misogynistic era. In many ways, the series is a modern parable of the futility of envy and lust. None of the characters in the show is ever content or satisfied with what they have, always wanting something more and something better—even though most of them are extremely affluent. The characters live in an endless cycle of discontentment. They only want what they don’t have, and therefore, as soon as they get what they don’t have, they no longer want it. Lust and envy breed dissatisfaction. They program us to never be grateful for and content with what we have been given. This dishonors God, who is the gracious Source of all we have been given—the Giver of all good gifts. It is far better to be content with less than to be unfulfilled with more. The former brings rest; the latter breeds unrest.