Thursday, August 13, 2009

08/04/09

I can't rationalize American Lifestyles. Even the ones we would consider 'generous.' If giving a tiny percent of your fortune earns you a pat on the back and a good night of sleep, then what, or who exactly, did you do it for?
In this country we have an incredible shortage of people who give until it hurts. Until it hurts bad. Until your neighbors look at you the way Noah's did and say "what's wrong with that guy?" We have almost no one brace enough to live in a way that defies the American way to the point of causing difficulty and pain to themselves and unease in those around them.
Our pursuits - even the ones that come across as 'humanitarian' or 'globally minded' or whatever the current catch phrase is - all are, at their molten core, at their beating heart, selfish. We seek to please ourselves. To make ourselves comfortable. Financially, socially, yeah those are the easy and common ones to think about. But what about the steps we take to make ourselves spiritually comfortable, or morally comfortable?
And in those pursuits, where is Jesus?
I find it a lot harder to find fault in average Americans than to find fault in people like me. The people who have the audacity to call ourselves followers of Christ while doing our best, sincerest imitation of the rest of the world.

So easy to rant about, yet so hard to rectify. Good thing we don't have to deserve the grace we've been given.