Isms...Commercial, consumer, material: And Jesus

Jesus comes to the earth with nothing, tells his followers to give what they have to the poor, takes nothing with him to the cross, asks for nothing when he is offered something on the cross, and doesn't force his followers to be his followers. And yet, during Christmas, I am reminded of the crazy ways in which we twist Jesus words to fit our own context. When Jesus says "take care of the widow" or "give what you have to the poor" we automatically say, "Yes, but Jesus also said that the poor would always be with us." Oh, that we would stop trying to create the gospel into something full of the "isms" above and understand the simple gospel to be life changing, powerful, hard, and challenging.

There is a disconnect between what I just said above and what I live out each and every day. I work for a very generous, amazing church that gives me a generous paycheck. When I recieve this check, my thought is not "how can I use this to invest in the poor" rather it is "how can I get more stuff for me?" Is this contrary to the gospel? Is this contrary to what Jesus said? I must look at my heart and search my heart to know if this is something that is taking precedence in my life. If my heart is bent towards getting stuff, if my heart is not bent towards responding to who my Savior Jesus Christ is, then it's wrong!

Throughout the Old Testament, we find that God calls the Israelites to a "right heart condition." If the Israelites didn't have a right heart condition, there were consequences. There were things that God would discipline his people with. Sometimes, it meant captivity. Sometimes, it meant famine. I wonder if America Christianity will experience captivity or famine? Not literally, but I wonder if God will say to his people, "Your hearts are far from me!" I know there are periods in my life where my heart is far from God. I do all the right things, but my heart is not in the right place. In Malachi 1, we find that God desires a change in the heart condition of the people, he could care less about the sacrifices that they continue to bring.

This Christmas season, with commercialism, consumerism, and materialism inundating my life, I pray that you would inundate and make me understand what it means to live as you lived here on earth! Give me the strength to meet the challenge, to go through the hard times, and to give freely when you call me to do that!