I am bewildered by the amount of TV shows that highlight our over-indulgent American culture. Most nights, I flip past “The Biggest Looser,” or “Celebrity Fit Club,” while MTV’s “I used to be FAT,” always seems to be on while I am in the gym. At home, I flip past these to search for my new fascination - “Hoarders,”
“Hoarders: Burried Alive,”
or “Confessions, Animal Hoarding.” These shows focus each week on individuals that have experienced something tragic that it has created a void in their life. They now try to fill this void with STUFF, food or pets. I watch, amazed.
At the same time, I have been reading David Platt's Radical - about how a radical faith in Christ means giving up everything; ourselves and our stuff - and traveling out into the World to share both the gospel of Jesus Christ and our material possesions with others. While attempting to do this very thing myself last year- I obsered how another culture (where hoarding things or over eating simply aren’t options) deals with grief and pain. I observed things that actually helped people heal and move on, instead of just mask the pain.
In our American culture, we tend to focus inward, and ask, “What can I do to fix this?” while the african culture tends to focus outward, and instead, they ask a higher power for help. Their help comes from two sources, which I believe the Bible agrees with:
At the same time, I have been reading David Platt's Radical - about how a radical faith in Christ means giving up everything; ourselves and our stuff - and traveling out into the World to share both the gospel of Jesus Christ and our material possesions with others. While attempting to do this very thing myself last year- I obsered how another culture (where hoarding things or over eating simply aren’t options) deals with grief and pain. I observed things that actually helped people heal and move on, instead of just mask the pain.
In our American culture, we tend to focus inward, and ask, “What can I do to fix this?” while the african culture tends to focus outward, and instead, they ask a higher power for help. Their help comes from two sources, which I believe the Bible agrees with:
1. Community: Everything in the African villages is done TOGETHER – as a community – everything is talked about and dealt with as a group. And, the Bible agrees: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!” Ecclesiates 4:9-10
2.God: Other cultures (most specifically third world cultures) have a greater understanding of their great NEED for God. When an African has a tragedy, he or she cries out to God. And it is God and God alone who can give comfort and hope. And the Bible agrees: "For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him." Psalm 62:5
It is so freeing to realize that our need for STUFF is cultural; that we don't really NEED all the stuff we think we do - and it is empowering to acknowledge God as the creator and giver of all things - even when times are tough. All we need is Christ, and everything else will fall into place.
"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." - Matthew 6:33
"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." - Matthew 6:33
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