Consumerism

What is it with society’s preoccupation with consumerism? Everywhere we look we are told that we need more of this or a bigger one of that. I find it disturbing that we Christians seem to be just as absorbed by this kind of thinking as the rest of the world. Our churches always want bigger buildings and louder PA systems and bigger bands. We spend huge amounts of money on “resources” which teach us how to succeed in building a “successful” church and how to be prosperous. We say we don’t judge success the way the world does, but in actual fact, we do.

Andrew Denton recently visited an American Christian conference at which hundreds of people gather each year to “spout their wares”. There were TV evangelists with their DVD and CD series, personalised Bibles which contained your own name throughout the scriptures, music and worship bands with masses of CDs to inspire you to “touch” God, preaching puppets, sculptures of Bible characters, hundreds of books on how to live a better life, and even a life size parade of stuffed animals from Noah’s Ark.

It is like we have made God into some product that we have to market and promote in order to “sell” him to the world. What has happened to the simplicity of the gospel? Where do we see the Jesus who walked the earth 2000 years ago, in a world (and church) so caught up with “stuff”, that we are blinded to what really matters?

Jesus came so that we can have life complete in him – a life full of love, peace, purpose and a life that serves God and others. That should be all the stuff we need.