Consumption Assumption

Some notes in my review of the 5th lesson on Andy Stanley's "Guardrails" video guide.  The lesson was on money and putting guardrails up to keep you from falling into being a consumer (spender) or a hoarder (saver), since both are selfish. 

Some good definitions in the video:

   1)  Greed - The assumption that anything coming to us is for our own consumption - either now or later.

   2)  Financial Independence - Living independently of serving your money.

Jesus didn't worry or have insecurity about physical needs.  Why did He have to feed the 5,000?  If He would know that there was such a huge need for food wouldn't He have planned for it?  Yet, being God, I imagine that if you could see the whole world you would see that there were many areas with many people with a need for food at that exact moment in time.  The real need was for there to be a demonstration of Who can provide for our needs so He could be revealed.  I just don't see where Jesus had any real concern for what He ate, where He slept, or what He wore – apart from the Last Supper.  In the desert, His temptations were to make bread out of rocks because He was hungry, to throw Himself off a roof and not die, or to kneel to Satan and have power and dominion over all the earth.  All physical things.  His first answer regarding that man lives by the Word of God and nothing else indicates the proper view of the world. 

Who else do we see that didn't seem to worry much about their physical needs?  John.  His primary purpose was to show Israel its need for repentance.  The physical requirements of this life weren't His focus.

Did John or Jesus die of a lack of provision regarding their physical needs?  No.  They died fulfilling their ministry.

Does the person with the most in this life have more in the next?  Pharaohs have massive pyramids that still hold all their stuff, a Chinese emperor had a whole terracotta army protecting him from spirits, yet their spirits left all of that behind.  No one moves to the next life with a single extra thing.

When I was a kid and my brother and sister and I were wearing no-name shoes and no-name clothes riding in our panel Ford Pinto station wagon with my Mississippi school teacher Mom, and we would talk about not having many things and being poor my Mom would always say, “We are rich because we have love.”  It really didn't mean much to me at the time and I considered it to be a cop-out that all poor people say.  But the truth is, she was telling the truth and I just wasn't able to recognize it.

Does the poorest person here who knows Jesus have more than the richest person here who doesn't?  The spiritual answer is of course, yes.  But we don't live as if this is true.  If we lived as though that were true, it would change our attitude and amount that we give to the church and to missions.  It would also change every conversation we have with every person we meet.  What if our tithe was to tell others about Christ?  Would it be easier or harder than giving money? 

Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well – Matthew 6:33

Lots of things change when we “seek” Him first.  Our list of “all other things” changes in priority and importance.  We realize that all we need is Him and our life is meaningless, we are powerless, and all life is contained and achievable through Him alone.  Our requirements to live become being near God and those physical needs of food, water, clothing, and shelter take a back seat; and the “stuff” beyond that can hardly be seen in the rear view mirror.  This is a difficult place to stay, but it is somewhere to aspire to get to and stay.

Adam and Eve lived in a perfect place with perfect weather and were perfectly made for one another and they walked with God every afternoon.  Yet they rejected God there in that perfect place.  Today, we live in air-conditioned homes and have lots of food and clothes and jobs.  This is a garden to most people on the planet.  Let us be sure not to reject God today.  Don’t reject God today.  Be sure to have the proper view of Him in relation to everything else.