Case in point: consumerism.
What is consumerism? Consumerism is the equation of personal happiness with consumption and the purchase of material possessions. In other words, consumerism tells us that satisfaction comes from buying things.
(In America it is nigh impossible to escape having this lie shoved down your through from every angle imaginable unless you are intentional in resisting it.)
Over the past month, I've really been troubled by the realities of this term because I find myself guilty of consumerism. I am a Christian, yet at the same time I am a consumerist. But aren't the two words antithetical to each other in meaning? Yes, they are . . . or, at least they should be.
Christianity says that one's satisfaction comes from knowing and being known by God through faith in Jesus Christ. We are admonished in the Bible time and time again to "be content" with such things as we have, knowing that God will provide for us all that we need.
Consumerism (if were were to use some Christianese here) is nothing more than loving the world and the things of the world. Why would we love the things of this world were it not for the idea that the things of the world can bring us a sense of satisfaction or happiness that we are currently missing?
Most Christians would DENY BEING CONSUMERISTS--that they actually go out and buy things because IT MAKES THEM OR OTHERS FEEL GOOD. But that's exactly what we do! ("Christian" consumerists--only in the West!)
If being a consumerist is worldly, how then can I say that the world often times has a greater degree of morality than Christians in regards to consumerism? Simple: it is the people of the world who I see giving scathing critique and warning AGAINST consumerism while American Christians go on their merry way to shop, shop, shop (and that with no qualm of conscience whatsoever!).
Go ahead; put me to the test on this. Google "consumerism," or "fight consumerism," or "against consumerism" and see where the results come from. Better yet, hit up YouTube with the same search queries. Yeah, told ya so--the hardcore critique is coming from the world . . . you have to literally modify your search to more narrow parameters just to find the "Christian response" to this horrific societal ill. Where's the voice of morality of the church in regards to this? Why is it the world preaching to the masses with prophetic rebuke about consumerism and not the church?
When it comes to consumerism, the world's morality > the church's morality. That's the truth, and here's why I'm mad:
I'm mad because out of the 14 years of being a believer in Jesus NOT A SINGLE CHRISTIAN PASTOR, MENTOR, or FRIEND has ever WARNED ME ABOUT THE EVIL OF CONSUMERISM. Sure, I've heard plenty of messages based upon 1 John 2:15-17 and how we're not supposed to love the world, but NOT A SINGLE PERSON has ever made the direct application to the psychosis of "buying things to make you happy or satisfied," i.e. consumerism.
Not a single Christian person ever gave me a one-on-one wake up call to the delusive, consumerist nature behind the "American Dream." Instead, we have promoted it. Christians go out and buy bigger and better and newer and cooler just like every other consumerist, and in so doing teach other Christians that it's OK to live like that.
It's time for a wake up call, O believer in Jesus. For Christ Himself offers up these words that we would do well to meditate upon and apply to our lives, especially during this "Christmas" season: "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions" (Luke 12:15).
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