Because I Come From the Land of Plenty

My friend Dave Carey posted a quote on his blog recently. He asked the question, true or false?

“We now face the danger, which in the past has been the most destructive to the humans: Success, plenty, comfort and ever-increasing leisure. No dynamic people has ever survived these dangers.” — John Steinbeck

It is definitely true that contentment can breed complacency and laziness. When a people lose their zeal for adventure and the desire to push the envelope of what’s out beyond the ridge, they become content to stay where it’s safe and familiar. The picture that comes to my mind most often when I think about this issue is from the movie Wall-e. Living aboard a space ship luxury liner where every need was catered to, the people became grossly obese and lazy, and lost their “dynamism.” They became passive consumers – gluttons of food, technology and pleasure. They lost their ability to dream, to imagine, or to think beyond the daily routines until one day their cycle was radically interrupted and everything changed.

We are surrounded by an increasingly leisure-driven culture. Everyone is longing for Fridays and dreading Mondays. Work is something that is often a negative — a distraction from what we really want to do — grill out and drink beer on the deck of our lake house. Our Instagram feeds display images of vacations and time off, good food and drink; often we post images of ourselves with homes or vehicles we can’t afford, and our lives seems like one big epic adventure. We thrive on showing others that we are successful (on social media anyway) in our lives. Yet in the midst of showing others these evidently very successful lives, there is also an invading and underlying entitlement. “I am owed these things.” Seriously? As hard as I work, my boss owes me a day off. You know what? I deserve this bottle of wine because I had a tough day. That $40k truck should be mine because dang it, I get up at 5am every day. It doesn’t even matter if I have to go into debt to get this life that I think I deserve. The simple fact is that I want it and I deserve it. My friend, Dave Pacheco, quoted his pastor this morning on Twitter – “Greed is a resolute sense of entitlement that says, ‘I owe me.'” And for many, that resolute determination to live this life chasing pleasure and things is their undoing.

Many are consumed by debt and pressure to maintain payments for these houses and cars and boats and credit cards … and they are barely hanging on. On the other end of the spectrum, others live off government assistance, believing that they are owed food and housing and many of the other luxuries of life. You see these folks driving their SUVs with chrome rims and have big screen TVs and designer clothing. They look the part of success but are living off others to maintain that illusion.

Neither of these are sustainable models. Those in debt will ultimately crash, and those who only take and don’t contribute will also eventually be cut off. A nation like ours that has an average of $134,000.00 in household debt and nearly 40% of adults on some sort of welfare / food assistance program will ultimately collapse. It’s just not sustainable long term.

There has been a shift though toward minimalism and getting out of debt that is encouraging. People are coming to realize that stuff can be an anchor and living paycheck to paycheck trying to pay for these unrealistic lifestyles has taken its toll and there is almost a rebellion or at least a backlash against it. From the tiny houses to Kon-Mari, the value of gross consumerism seems to be diminishing in some ways. Hopefully we can turn this ship around before it runs into the rocks and sinks like so many nations who have collapsed before us.

St. Paul spoke about being content despite your circumstances — whether you have much or little. He spoke often of praising God in the midst of pain, trial, punishment and persecution. Life is a race, the author of Hebrews said, so strip off the weights and the stuff that slows you down and start running. Leisure, comfort and accumulating an over-abundance of stuff in this life will not yield lasting fruit. As my friend Corey Stark used to constantly say, “It’s all gonna burn.” His point was that all of this stuff that we put such value on is so temporal. The Bible says that we need to treasure the stuff that won’t rust, rot or get stolen — that’s eternal treasure and it is earned by giving! It’s all so opposite in the kingdom… you give things away now to get treasure later. You go low now to be exalted later. Jesus said stuff like “Blessed are you who get persecuted because of me.” If you follow Christ, it is expected that you wont be comfortable. It is expected that you will face trials and life won’t be easy. The world system opposes Christ, so expect to deal with lives that aren’t full of leisure and success in the eyes of the world. Because if your life is just cruising along without any problems, and you are living in the lap of luxury and comfort… check yourself … because you might be in a dangerous place.