Overspent & Under-loved

Lately I have  been comparing Christian faith to the information I learn in my classes.  The other day in class we watched a video with the title “The Overspent American”.  Like most movies that I have watched in class, I was expecting another 80’s video with rinky-dink music and people with expired fashion (large glasses, Gola shoes and patch pockets…etc).  Despite these expectations I was intrigued by the movies contents.  The narrator spent 32 minutes talking about the spending that we as Americans do.  It’s not just a ridiculous amount of spending that we are doing, but also the amount of work that the average American has to do.  The work people do in order to keep their spending affordable is almost ridiculous.  With more income you have more spending, more acquired things and more landfills.  With out sounding too cynical and negative I want to briefly give my philosophical and unprofessional opinion of how this video impacted me.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good. Pleasing and perfect will.” – Romans 12:2

The society that we live is constantly looking for bigger, better, faster… NOW!  I have heard this so many times, but the reality is that we all want the latest and greatest gizmo that makes what ever chore or manual labor we do easier and more convenient.  One of the biggest things that people notice about us is the stuff we have.  We can tell if someone is well to do or living on the streets by how they dress, if their teeth are clean and if there are well fed.  It’s not hard to deduce someone’s financial status. There is a saying, “Keeping up with the Joneses” that refers to comparing one’s belongings to others with more.  One of the biggest points of this video was how we have moved from a society of simply having access to basic needs to a society that lives off status goods.  Having the big house, the nice car and the expensive clothes has become a new standard for a lot of Americans.  The roles that media plays in this standard are horrendous and only provide people with more fuel to get even more lost.  Making “happy and content” look like we all need to have things.

I’m not going to lie; having really nice clothes, cool gadgets and a nice car is really awesome.  I would really enjoy having an I-phone, a 72-inch flat screen TV and some sports car, but I also enjoy not having those things.  The values that a lot of people have are based on places traveled, income, things bought and people known.  There is nothing wrong with having stuff, but when it comes to the purpose and drive of life, things can’t even be on the list.  If our life is driven by the stuff we have then we are definitely going to struggle when God decides to “clean out the garage”.

The fact that our lives are becoming more consumed more with things of the world and less things of God is something that I think is serious.  Life isn’t something that can be spent twice, we don’t get a return option, when we reach our last day we get a receipt and the total is either life or death.  If we are more concerned with the world in a selfish way and not concerned with the world in a spiritual way then the total cost of our life is definitely going to be death.  The value of our life doesn’t come from the world; it comes from the creator of the world, the one who gives us value! If we don’t recognize and accept the sacrifice of God’s son who made it possible for us to be worth something then we become worthless.  You want to take a quick test to see the value you are giving to God?  How much time do you spend in God’s word, praying or sharing your faith compared to the time you spend doing things about yourself.  T.V., work, vacation, books, music…. Etc.  If we include God in all that we are doing, then there is never a moment that we AREN’T spending with Him.

The main thing that this video reminded me of is that our faith needs to be genuine and real.  It can’t have all these funky gadgets and gizmos that look cool, but don’t mean anything.  God’s word says that, “Faith with out actions is dead” (James 2:17).  Instead of overspending to receive treasures of this world, we need to love and receive eternal and heavenly treasures.  There is nothing that we can’t do under God’s authority.  Making money is important and it is a huge resource, but we can’t serve two masters.  We have to make sure that the priority in our life is to live and serve God.  We CAN do that with the things we have, we CAN do that with the lives we live and it IS worth every thing we invest.  The world is overspent and under-loved, as lights to the world we need to love more and shine brighter.  My challenge is to step out, love on others more and spend less on our selves.

“Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.” – 2 John 8