I like being cool.
(I'm sitting here right now thinking about just how cool i am...
... sorry, it's a long process). I think, and I've got a pretty good idea that I'm not alone on this, that if people think I'm cool then they'll like me.
I like being accepted too; as opposed to being rejected.
In the world I live, I look around and I see designer clothes, really nice cars, food I'll never eat, luxury unappreciated, $4 cups of coffee being sipped after $40 haircuts and Bibles everywhere! Yes, in the world I live, I see all of this without ever seeing another human being. Because in the world I live, is what I live. I am describing my life, my choices, my affluence.
When I was a young lad, just in college, I read a book called "Rich Christians In an Age of Hunger" by Ron Sider and I remember the ensuing discussions about how we negotiate true generosity in a country which considers its poverty level by what other countries (and more than you can count) would deem as wealth. I was fairly adamant; I didn't have a lot of money compared to the world in which I lived and the costs demanded of goods and services were much more here than there. "It's all relative." I would argue. But deep down, somehow I knew I was it was an empty argument. Perhaps it was the guilt of knowing there was, even then... when I truly had no money, room for me to give to others who had less than me. Or maybe it was seeing that others had much more than me and I was not willing to give up what I had as a "right" to what little I had. But if I recall honestly my platform for justification it would have to be that I seemed to strike a cord with others with my argument. There were more people willing to take my side on the issue than the more liberal, social perspective. Sometimes we choose comfort over conscience.
Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet. Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God." Acts 5:1-23
I realize that you may be thinking, "this is a real guilt trip" and you don't need to respond to such manipulation tactics... I agree. I don't intend, nor do I want you to be manipulated into anything. Especially when it has to do with your credibility and mine too. This isn't about what you want... we've already established you have enough. It's about what the world needs and what we are called to as followers of Christ, commissioned with representing the life-work of Jesus to subsequent generations.
Frankly, I'm not talking about your relevance... I'm referring to your influence.
Here in America, we think we have a really important message about how people should think and therefor act... So we go to the lowly places; the bars, the ghettos, the prisons and we tell people that they are lost and they need something that we have to be really... really happy! That the happiness they're experiencing now is false and it won't last... unless they believe in what we're about to tell them. Can you imagine their response?
"How can you know what I should feel, think and do when you don't even know what I'm going through?"
Oh, we are an arrogant bunch aren't we? Do we know what it's like to be poor when we haven't felt hunger pains that rise up from the emptiness of a meal that has been missed for the past four days? To have drinking water that contains the vial contents of human excrement and parasites? To be so strung out that the only thing that makes sense to them is another fix so they can think straight enough to get the courage to ask for help... real help.
But we attach conditions to our help. We sit back and count the cost and determine what's a worthy cause by how easy it is for us to contribute. So we have our fund raisers and sit at nice dinners and we imagine what a difference we're making. But really we're hoping someone will notice we're there and will think how cool we are and then they'll see us two weeks later at Starbucks and think, "Hey, there's that cool person."
Are you ready to do something yet? Or are you still thinking, "Who is this condescending #~\^@*?"
Honestly ask yourself... "Do I have more than I need?"
Honestly ask yourself... "Do I waste more than I should?" Come on... honestly!
Honestly ask yourself... "Am I justifying? Am I making excuses for not doing what I should?"
Honestly ask yourself... "Am I giving with embellishment or am I embellishing my giving?"
Then ask yourself... "What can I do about it?"
I like being cool... but then again, I don't do cool things. But maybe one day after I've given up Peet's Coffee and I no longer drive a car, I'll look back at all this stuff I have and finally feel guilty. Because even still, with all that I have, I can't give it up.
Although... I thought this was cool!
St. Vincent, Jesus Saves, I Spend
