Sure Pinocchio, you’re a Real Boy.

I hate to shop. Ask my wife - if I spend too much time perusing the isles of any department store, mall, or supermarket I get a headache. I have a real physical repulsion to shopping. But the real problem is that while I hate shopping I love buying new things. Oh what fun it is to consume! Now that I have a steady income I have become quite the purchaser. It’s like having Christmas any day you want! Bring home the shiny cellophane wrapped bundle of joy and rip it open as fast as you can; bask in the glory of your new toy! I tend to find excuses to buy new things, like “oh look, there is a little dent in the screen of my speaker. I should buy a new stereo system.” I confess, I like to buy new things. But I wonder, where does my desire to purchase the bigger, better, newest item come from? Is it an innate need to always find something new, or is it a cultural force pushing me to get the next best thing?

Lately I’ve been thinking about the power of the media in our culture. American consumers will buy what products the commercials tell us, listen to the music MTV plays, and wear whatever clothing a celebrity does.

The influence of the media is everywhere, and no one is immune. Tucan Sam told me to follow my nose, and I did by forcing my Mom to buy Fruit Loops at the Grocery Store. If Ashton Kutcher wears a trucker hat, so will I. The commercials for the RAZR cell phone are so cool…I have to have one!

Our materialistic consumer society is playing along with a never ending cycle of marketing schemes. Ron Sider in his book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger writes about such ploys. “The director of research labs of General Motors, Charles Kettering, decided that business needed to create a “dissatisfied customer.” Annual model changes-planned obsolescence-was his solution. Success, according to advertising historian Roland Marchard, came to depend on the virtue of qualities like wastefulness, self-indulgence, and artificial obsolescence.” Or think about this…the largest 100 corporations in the U.S. pay for 75% of all commercial television. Because of this, producers and writers develop what those advertisers will support. These corporations may be telling us we’re “real boys” by giving us the impression of consumer choice, but we’re really just puppets and they can pull our strings anyway they want to.

The question is…What does God have to say about this? Is it his desire for us to be caught up in a system of deception and indulgence? Do I serve him better by having that new cell phone playing MP3’s of the newest American Idol? Perhaps God wants us to re-evaluate our consumer priorities. Is he not the Lord of our finances, our desires, our media?

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think the media and our consumerist culture is the Devil - but to too many it is a god.

A step closer to seeing God as he intended

I was thinking the other day…have you ever noticed how God seems to be continually showing more and more of himself through greater revelation. Its kind of a progressive revelation. God will always meet us where we are, as a culture and as individuals. Then it seems as time goes on and cultures change, God reveals a little more about himself. God lowers himself to our ignorance and prejudices, grabs our hearts, then slowly moves us a little bit closer to where he really intended us to be. As history moves on, God moves man further and further down the revelation scale.

For example:

God revealed to the Israelites that they were a chosen nation and his hand was upon them. Then later, God reveals in a vision to Peter that any believer, Greek or Jew, was part of God’s chosen people.

Did God change his mind, or did he just reveal a little more of his original intent to Peter?

People used to discern God’s will by casting lots. Even the disciples did it after Jesus’ ascension to determine who God wanted to take Judas’ place. Now we consider that practice crude and pretty much wrong. Today God reveals his will through scripture, and promptings from the Holy Spirit.

Did God change the way he shows us what he wants, or did we begin to understand there are better ways God wants to show us his will.

In the Bible God never once said Slavery was a sin. In fact Paul encourages slaves to be the best slaves they can in order to show their owners how Christ can change a person’s life. But, today almost every Christian would agree that owning another human being is detestable to God.

Did God change his mind about slavery, or did our culture change enough that we finally understood God a little more clearly on this subject?

We see this pattern with ceremonial laws, divorce, Women rights, etc.

So my whole point is this…If Jesus doesn’t return for some time, in 500 years when people look back at us what things will they say, “I can’t believe they thought that about God.” or, “Those people back then actually believed that God wanted them to live that way.”

So what are the areas where God is meeting us in our ignorance and desires to move us closer to a more complete understanding of his will? I would venture to say areas like the aids epidemic, seeing the church globally, social justice, and environmentalism. What do you think? What areas are we missing God’s ideal?

I'm glad I'm not Rich.

Have you ever noticed how many shows on television deal with rich people? MTV’s Cribs, My Sweet Sixteen, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, 90210, Dynasty, The Nanny, Beverly Hillbilly’s, Who wants to marry a Millionaire, Ducktales, on and on and on. For some reason we are drawn to the rich. Perhaps it’s a bit of envy that keeps our attention. We dream, hope, or wish to be like them someday.

But truth be told, I’m glad I’m not rich. The Bible has some pretty hard things to say about rich people…especially rich people who profit from the poor and rich who do nothing for the poor. For these reasons I’m glad I’m not rich…I’m sure it’s a lot of pressure to carry around. That whole “to whom much is given, much is required” thing has to be tough to live with. I’m glad I’m not rich, because God might expect me to do something with what I have.

Take for example that only 8% of the world’s population owns a car. I’m glad I’m not rich. Or that half of the world’s population lives on less than two dollars a day…less than the price of a gallon of gas. Or that 1.3 Billion people have no access to clean drinking water. I’m glad I’m not rich, when I see that the amount of money Americans spend on ice cream a year could feed all the world’s starving children, or that 20% of the population in the developed nations consume 86% of the world’s goods.

You see, I’m glad I’m not rich…other wise God might want me to use my money on something other than myself.