Wealth, Money, Riches
Nothing Is As Insecure As Money
17/04/10 16:03
"And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: One thing is wanting unto thee: go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." (Mark 10: 21)
Sadly, the rich young man to whom Jesus addressed those words, walked away, downcast at the thought of having to part with his precious possessions. His greed got the best of him and he passed up a golden opportunity.
As MasterCard readily acknowledges in its advertising, "There are somethings that money can't buy." One thing that money can't buy is the peace that passes all understanding. Such serenity is experienced by those who know the difference between satisfying their needs and their wants.
The Bible warns us about greed 25 times and reminds us that our lives do not consist of the abundance of our possessions.
But it's easy to confuse our wants and our needs. Our consumer-oriented society is continually enticing us new things that we never realized we needed until advertisers convinced us we couldn’t live without them. Today's average supermarket carries more than 30,000 products. Heinz has more than 57 varieties. Baskin-Robbins has over 100 flavors (Penguin Swirl, anyone?). We have dozens of bottled waters to choose from - - imported or domestic, spring, mineral, organic, flavored, vitamin-enriched, fluoride or fiber added. We even have endless varieties of trash bags. A single brand of trash bag, Hefty, has 21 different ways to dispose of our garbage. Maybe more. I stopped counting.
We're inundated with advertising messages that create unrealistic expectations while fostering a sense of entitlement and greed. The average half hour block of television programming contains eight minutes of advertising and as many as 16 commercials. If you spend three and a half hours a night watching television, you're exposed to almost an hour of advertising daily. By the time you arrive at church on Sunday, you will have been exposed to 29 times more advertising messages than the message you'll hear from the pulpit in a 15-minute sermon.
We've come a long way from the day when Christ told us to pray for our daily bread. We may want a cup of coffee in the morning but we reach for a Mocha Grande Frappuccino. We may want an auto but we drive an Infinit QX56 SUV. We may want a new television set, but we take home Samsung's state-of-the-art fourth generation plasma screen TV with surround sound.
Such affluence actually contributes to a sense of anxiety and insecurity because every possession that we come to rely on will one day wear out, rust out, break, decay or simply become obsolete. Whatever advantage accrues to the owner of a thing of this world is temporary. Its value depreciates with time.
As we approach the altar to receive holy communion, we extend an empty hand to receive the host. That empty hand is a reminder that we must let go of the things of this world and break the grip of greed in order to take Jesus into our lives.
When Jesus said we were to pray for our daily bread, He was encouraging us to pray daily so that we would have the wisdom and insight to know the difference between our needs and our wants. We need the daily devotion to prayer as a form of spiritual station break.
Sadly, the rich young man to whom Jesus addressed those words, walked away, downcast at the thought of having to part with his precious possessions. His greed got the best of him and he passed up a golden opportunity.
As MasterCard readily acknowledges in its advertising, "There are somethings that money can't buy." One thing that money can't buy is the peace that passes all understanding. Such serenity is experienced by those who know the difference between satisfying their needs and their wants.
The Bible warns us about greed 25 times and reminds us that our lives do not consist of the abundance of our possessions.
But it's easy to confuse our wants and our needs. Our consumer-oriented society is continually enticing us new things that we never realized we needed until advertisers convinced us we couldn’t live without them. Today's average supermarket carries more than 30,000 products. Heinz has more than 57 varieties. Baskin-Robbins has over 100 flavors (Penguin Swirl, anyone?). We have dozens of bottled waters to choose from - - imported or domestic, spring, mineral, organic, flavored, vitamin-enriched, fluoride or fiber added. We even have endless varieties of trash bags. A single brand of trash bag, Hefty, has 21 different ways to dispose of our garbage. Maybe more. I stopped counting.
We're inundated with advertising messages that create unrealistic expectations while fostering a sense of entitlement and greed. The average half hour block of television programming contains eight minutes of advertising and as many as 16 commercials. If you spend three and a half hours a night watching television, you're exposed to almost an hour of advertising daily. By the time you arrive at church on Sunday, you will have been exposed to 29 times more advertising messages than the message you'll hear from the pulpit in a 15-minute sermon.
We've come a long way from the day when Christ told us to pray for our daily bread. We may want a cup of coffee in the morning but we reach for a Mocha Grande Frappuccino. We may want an auto but we drive an Infinit QX56 SUV. We may want a new television set, but we take home Samsung's state-of-the-art fourth generation plasma screen TV with surround sound.
Such affluence actually contributes to a sense of anxiety and insecurity because every possession that we come to rely on will one day wear out, rust out, break, decay or simply become obsolete. Whatever advantage accrues to the owner of a thing of this world is temporary. Its value depreciates with time.
As we approach the altar to receive holy communion, we extend an empty hand to receive the host. That empty hand is a reminder that we must let go of the things of this world and break the grip of greed in order to take Jesus into our lives.
When Jesus said we were to pray for our daily bread, He was encouraging us to pray daily so that we would have the wisdom and insight to know the difference between our needs and our wants. We need the daily devotion to prayer as a form of spiritual station break.
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