| | I've been thinking a lot today and lately about my ideas about "stuff" and how much "stuff" we should have. Since I'm thinking about going back to work in retail, it's a relevant topic. I guess, the topic is two-fold for me. The first has to do with consumerism in general and the other with what I'll call occupational holiness.
First of all, I have soo many issues with the way we live as Americans (well, as humans in general, just more obvious here) in terms of our level of consumption. Basically, we have a ton of stuff we don't need and we live in a world that is constantly pushing more stuff at us and trying everything it can to get you to make another purchase.
Let me explain corporate business for you. The business world is under such pressure to make exponentially growing profits (we have to make at least ___% more than last year) so there's a lot of pressure to sell more stuff than last year to keep the profits growing. People invest money in companies because they want to get more money back. Well, that money has to come from somewhere. And people don't just want the same amount they got last year, they want more...and more...and more... (usually so they can buy more stuff...its a cycle...) So, companies are under a lot of pressure to meet the demands of stockholders and employees. They have to sell more and more to keep up with this. Enter YOU.
Let's assume you are actively pursuing the Christian life and a relationship with God. You are now tapped in, through Christ, to the love of God. You are seeking to direct your deep sense of need and desire toward God, where your deep voids can ultimately be filled and satisfied. You are actively pursuing the "shalom" of Christ - the completeness, wholeness, well-being, and peace that comes from trusting God and living in His grace. You are striving to reach and stay at the point where Paul says, "I have learned to be content in all circumstances." You are now enemy #1 to the world system. Why? Because you don't need distractions or more stuff to be content.
Since the Garden, Satan has been trying to get people to take their eyes off everything they have and get them focused on everything they don't have. The basic elements - pleasing to the eye, suitable for food and desireable to gain are the elements in the vast majority of temptations since. The ploy certainly hasn't changed much, except that it's on a much larger scale now. Satan has intentionally built a world system that reproduces this to an unfathomable extent. His goal is to enslave us to anything and everything he can so that we have no real desire or room left for God.
Not only is Satan looking to devour and consume us, we have our own flesh to contend with as well. Our flesh is recklessly selfish, too, and wants to minimize any effort to restrict it from fulfilling any and every desire it can come up with. Unfortunately, the best marketers are aware of this aspect of human nature and whether they do it maliciously or not, they certainly play to it. They offer us anything and everything to make our lives easier, more comfortable, more entertained, and more distracted from the pain and suffering of reality in a fallen world.
But, since when did Jesus call us to a more convenient, comfortable and easy life? Jesus did call us to be free, though. Free from what? Free from sin. And that freedom from sin includes freedom from whatever enslaves our desire and attaches it to cravings and anything other than God and His will. Yet, so few "Christians," myself included, are experiencing this kind of freedom! It seems like we are consuming so much of the same stuff and at the same rate as the rest of the world is. We take delight in many of the same things (not always wrong) and seem to need just as much of it as they do.
I'm learning a lot about freedom in Christ these days. I'm learning that God wants me to live in freedom...freedom of choice... Freedom to choose what is right and best and His will without being enslaved and hindered by my attachments to anything that isn't so. Freedom to not need a bunch of stuff. Freedom to take my desire back from everything my flesh wants and turn it towards God.
I'm learning to not respond to every craving and hunger. I'm learning that obedience, suffering, dealing with inconveniences, making an effort, hard work, resisting apathy, living with discomfort and not having everything I want are big parts of reality that I need to accept and endure. This world is intent on offering me anything and everything it can to distract me from these realities. But, in Christ, and in everything I have through Him, I don't need to be addicted, distracted or in denial anymore. I can live with reality and all these things and still be free because I have the Source of my deepest desires, the Grace and Love of God, and a hope that nothing in this world can give or take from me. |
