In Search of Treasure Island
Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for - in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it. ~ Ellen GoodmanAs I read this quote, I am reminded of what Jesus said: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6: 19-20
I have been preparing to speak to the young adults of my church this coming Sunday regarding "Bringing Your Worldview to Life" and have reflected on this very subject. I am reminded how few of us who claim to live according to a biblical worldview actually do.
We claim to follow Christ and His teachings, yet we live according to the rules of the world; we play according to the rules of someone else's game rather than the ones laid out by the master Designer.
Jesus said for us to store up treasures in heaven and to resist storing up earthly fortunes, yet most of the time we are busy trying to amass a comfortable living, desiring to make sure that our family and our lives are at ease. Is there anything wrong with that? Well, not according to the standards we are used to, but according to the biblical standard, the two seem to be at odds with one another.
I'm not insisting that we should seek to live in abject poverty, but it is important--if we are truly seeking to live according to a biblical worldview--to do an honest evaluation and determine what it is we're living for and, exactly, what rule book we're living according to. I suspect we might be surprised at the results. I know I was.
Labels: David C. Price
posted by DAVID C. PRICE at 11/14/2005 07:35:00 PM
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2 Comments:
Yeah but, for many people, the situation you describe may seem unavoidable. After all, they have to drive to work downtown. Maybe I'm uncertain what you're driving at.
Perhaps the economic pressures you describe have to do with fiscal irresponsibility and light a view of consumer debt?
The point is not whether people have to drive to work, it's about priorities.
Most of us, I dare say, go through much of our lives living according to certain standards of how we're supposed to function...standards set out by other people or our society as a whole. We get a job so that we can have a certain level of stuff. Have we really stopped to think of whether or not what we are doing (at least as Christians) is according to a biblical perspective?
I think what Ms. Goodman is doing is pointing out that we often live in a vicious cycle of working for things that may not be important. Are we simply working in order to have a nice house, wear nice clothes and drive a nice car or is there a greater purpose? A Christian worldview declares there is...but many of us never discover that and live and work according to one of the many "secular" worldviews that tell us we're only working for the stuff or to attain a certain level of comfort or to earn our right to not have to work anymore.
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