One of the woeful effects of the evolutionary theory that Peter wrote about yesterday (isn't it good to hear that the peddlers of folly are at least squirming a bit under the weight of having no proof?!) is that it has given a pseudo-intellectual credibility to the age-old philosophy of materialism. It has made the idea that all there is and all that matters is matter. The realm of the spirit and the supernatural has been denied even more openly and brazenly than ever.
One effect of this has been an emergence of crass hedonistic materialism. We're told to love money and what money can buy, because after all there is nothing but the body and the present to live for. Even though our world's woeful condition of unhappiness (I saw a report just this morning that 27 million stuff-stuffed Americans are on anti-depressants!) would surely imply that stuff doesn't bring happiness, and life disconnected from the Living God and connected only to matter, is bankrupt, the blind still don't know they're blind.
A few weeks back I told you I wanted to do a 30 day experiment in joyful austerity; a commitment for one month to live as close to a need only existence as I can get. It has begun. For one month I'm going to eat, drink, shower, spend, relax, and simply live with need rather than mere pleasure or habit in mind. I started on Saturday. Three days in I'm learning some things about what we really need and what we don't. I'll try to keep you posted.
BTW this really isn't inteneded to be something like a fast; it's not really a profound spiritual plan so much as an intentional learning experience. I want to learn a bit more what God sees as my needs, what others have and don't have, and just how happy and contented I can be without all the stuff that money buys.
As one stuff-stuffed American to others, I'm hoping to learn some things that'll change my life.
"stuff-stuffed"...that's a scary, convicting way to put it.
ReplyDeleteEager to see what insights you gain from this... thanks for doing it.
ReplyDeleteMay God Himself grant you to taste afresh what we all must taste, namely, that He is our great reward, and He alone truly satisfies. I so often find myself "craving" that which can never satisfy, filling my hunger for God with things, even good things, that I don't need. "Taste and see that the Lord is good".
ReplyDeleteI look forward to learning from you what God is teaching you. A.W. Tozer said "Brothers, we must simplify our lives to glorify our God." May the Lord Himself continue to bless your shepherding of His church at Trinity.