Our culture promulgates, educates, and even obligates us to narcissism. We have to make sure that we are the priority. You have to take care of yourself because no one else will, and if you don’t take care of yourself you’re going to get taken.
If narcissism is our culture’s blue pill to avoid the truth of our own depravity without a Savior then entitlement is the water to wash it all down with. How do you look at a hurting, starving, naked, homeless, and dying world and still find the audacity to be indignant at the condition of our current plight? Entitlement. You are owed everything you’ve been given. You should be given everything you want because you are intrinsically good enough, and the have nots have not because they aren’t worthy of the life you are. This is the disgusting lie our culture wants us to believe, and not just believe but embody. The creed of our society is bigger, better, and newer. We live in a vicious cycle of narcissistic, competitive greed where our possessions give us meaning, worth, and power. So the bigger my stuff is the bigger my image; the better my things the better a person I am; the newer my wealth the greater the measure of my success.
What about the oppressed, the broken, the hurting, the poor, the homeless, those who are meaningless in our system of appraisal and worth-ascription? Who cares for them? Who meets the needs of those unable to meet their needs? Is their lack of material worth negate them from the love and grace of the creating Savior? Our culture’s response is a resounding yes.
Christ lived His life as an example that the poor, unwanted, and outcasts matter to God because that’s who he spent most of his time with. The condition of the creation has no determination on the value of the creation. If I were to offer you a $100 bill you would take it; if I were to take the same bill wad it up and stomp on it, would you still want it? Of course, because the value you of the bill hasn’t changed simply it’s appearance and condition. People are the same way; their condition may change but their worth is still the same and that’s what should drive our lives. Not some false and temporal value system based on characteristics and attainment that is all a gift beyond our means and control.
Simmer with this a bit, pour into God’s word and see if it doesn’t change your thoughts and the way you view people.
Live in chaos, pray for brokenness, and seek to know nothing apart from Him.
Much Love,
Drew
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
What Really Matters
What really matters?
Many people live their whole lives trying to figure it out.
They go to great lengths to attain things, because they think stuff matters.
They work themselves ragged trying to accomplish some great thing, because they think achievement matters.
They make every attempt to conquer and dominate everything they can because they feel power and control matter.
I think all of those things can offer us a temporary feeling of significance, allowing us to feel as though we have purpose and worth because of all those things. But I think if we were to examine the thing that Christ valued over everything, and what fulfilled his purpose, was relationships. The entire purpose of Christ coming was to establish a means for us to be in relationship with him and his father. The miracles he performed established a relationship with the benefactor of those miracles, and all those around who were witnesses to it. Chris was a man focused on relationships, every time he locked eyeballs with someone they were changed forever, why? Because the creator decided to put on flesh and make the relationship that he desires to have with each one of us very personal.
What in life really matters isn't the wealth you attain, the achievements you accomplish, or the power you acquire, what really matters is the relationships you build and the impact you have on those people. Christ left a legacy of relationships. He lived a life that left eternity forever altered by the ripples of the rock of his life being placed into the water of history.
What Really Matters to you?
Many people live their whole lives trying to figure it out.
They go to great lengths to attain things, because they think stuff matters.
They work themselves ragged trying to accomplish some great thing, because they think achievement matters.
They make every attempt to conquer and dominate everything they can because they feel power and control matter.
I think all of those things can offer us a temporary feeling of significance, allowing us to feel as though we have purpose and worth because of all those things. But I think if we were to examine the thing that Christ valued over everything, and what fulfilled his purpose, was relationships. The entire purpose of Christ coming was to establish a means for us to be in relationship with him and his father. The miracles he performed established a relationship with the benefactor of those miracles, and all those around who were witnesses to it. Chris was a man focused on relationships, every time he locked eyeballs with someone they were changed forever, why? Because the creator decided to put on flesh and make the relationship that he desires to have with each one of us very personal.
What in life really matters isn't the wealth you attain, the achievements you accomplish, or the power you acquire, what really matters is the relationships you build and the impact you have on those people. Christ left a legacy of relationships. He lived a life that left eternity forever altered by the ripples of the rock of his life being placed into the water of history.
What Really Matters to you?
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