Christian Consumption

I am really terrible at keeping up with this blog. It seems so much more convenient to verbally express my ideas. And it is also much easier to pour out my thoughts into spoken words than it is to sift through them and type them into something cohesive.

Today I have been thinking about how much Christians consume, particularly on Christmas. On this holiday that celebrates the birth of Christ we wallow in excess as others are starving.

How many people can honestly say they have never eaten so much they felt sick after a Christmas or Thanksgiving meal?
This means that Christians are actually making themselves physically ill through gluttony while others are ill because of malnutrition.

And think of how much we spend. We find it infuriating when we feel pressured to drop our change into the red Salvation Army bucket when we exit a store after having made hundred dollar purchases. We cheerfully pour out our wealth to buy gifts for our friends and family who are already so wealthy compared to others in less fortunate parts of the world, or even less fortunate parts of our own country.
It seems to me that many people honestly believe that having a Salvation Army bellringer at both the entrance and the exit of a store is the utmost of evils. Having to give as much as a dollar in change because a charity hits us up twice? It's almost too horrible to speak of!

Buying hundreds of dollars in gifts for each other isn't even enough for us. We then have to wrap the gifts in yard upon yard of wrapping paper, which later gets torn up and thrown away without a second thought.

During the Christmas Eve service earlier tonight, I found myself thinking, "Will God forgive us for this?"

The whole situation reminds me of a passage from Amos:

Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory,
and lounge on their couches,
and eat lambs from the flock,
and calves from the stall;
who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp,
and like David improvise on instruments of music;
who drink wine from bowls,
and anoint themselves with the finest oils,
but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!
Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile,
and the revelry of the loungers shall pass away.
(Amos 6:4-7)

How different are we from these complacent wealthy ones in Israel whom Amos prophesied against?
Think about those living in cardboard shanties while dying from curable diseases before you answer that question.
Compare yourself to such people who live in abject poverty.

I understand that such lines of thought are very troubling. Don't I have to logically conclude that I should give up all my possessions to help the poor? Shouldn't I give up all but my basic needs?
Maybe.
I've thought this question over a lot. I always try to come up with excuses not to act.
But when the young rich man asked Jesus, "what must I do to inherit eternal life," the Messiah responded, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." The rich man, however, "was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions" (Mark 10:21-22).

I am this rich man. We are all this rich man. The idea of giving up all of our wealth for the poor is shocking to us, because we have many possessions.
But if the thought of giving up all of our possessions is appalling to us, it doesn't mean we should just quit and put these troubling thoughts out of our minds.
We can at least do something.

Eat a little less, spend a little less, use up a little less.
Give a little more to those who need it.

We have so much, but we give so little.

Praise God for his mercy and forgiveness.