Consumed

Today's Passage: Hebrews 13:1-6

Photo credit: Radiofreethinker

 This past week in my Social Studies 9 class, I was discussing “Consumerism” with my students. I showed them the textbook chapter of how our economy depends on people buying and selling goods and services, and how consuming goods affects people’s identity and quality of life. But then I also went outside of the textbook and had them look at the disadvantages of a consumerist society.

 In this world, especially in our North American society, our worth as individuals and as citizens hinges on what and how much we buy. We cram our driveways with motorized toys. We pack our closets with clothes to fit every event, style, and mood. We pile the debt high in hopes of finding happiness and fulfillment at the top of that mountain… only to realize we’ve become slaves to our money, rather than masters of it. We are shamed into piling that mountain ever higher in the quest for the latest and greatest--to fit in.

I can throw the same facts to you as I had my students consider: life satisfaction survey statistics show that happiness levels have been steadily dropping since the consumerist shift in the 1950s, 6 months after making our purchases we use less than 1% of the products we've bought, and we work more hours as a society now than we have since the age of feudalism (no doubt to pay for all those purchases that end up forgotten or trashed within 6 months).

Photo credit: akingslife.com

What has our love of “stuff” cost us? Beyond money, it’s cost us relationships. It has cost us time.  We’ve given up the increasing joy of loving God and loving others in exchange for the ever decreasing joy of junk.

Now, I’m not saying owning nice things is sinful or bad. God has never said that having money or spending money is wrong… but he has repeatedly warned us against the love of money, the love of material things, and has told us to be disciplined with what we dedicate our time and resources to. Anyone can fall into the trap of loving of money… you don’t have to be rich to have the insatiable desire for more!

 “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you,  never will I forsake you.”

 -Hebrews 13:5

We can be content with what we have because we have something that renders everything else negligible. Big or small, rich or poor, plentiful or scant—we have God who has promised a close relationship with us that he will never walk away from. That is truly priceless.

Jesus’ sacrifice was so that we could have an intimate relationship with the God of the Universe who, for whatever reason, has chosen to fall madly in love with us. In return we have been asked to do two things: Love Him back and Love Others. If anything is getting in the way of that--- siphoning our love, time, energy, or resources--- we need to reflect on our priorities.

Jesus chose to build a kingdom of love. A kingdom of relationships and of selfless sacrifice. He could have built a kingdom of towering walls, jewels, and riches. But he chose love.

May we follow his example and choose the same.