The Things of This World

“But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.”
--I Timothy 6:6-9

My friends and I have this joke about me leaving the state of Arkansas. It seems as if the past 2 years God has not allowed me to leave for more than 7 days at a time. I had an opportunity to be apart of a mission team going to Indonesia for 8 weeks. The next year I began praying about moving to another state to pursue a short-term degree in culinary arts. Then later that year I began to pray about an opportunity to be apart of a mission team going to Brazil for 12 days. There are many other things I have been able to do. However, all of those things had to be 7 days or less. Today I jokingly asked a friend if she thought God would allow me to move out of the US sooner than what we originally expect, that expectation is roughly 4-5 years from now. The whole point of me asking the question had to do with the fact a co-worker and I began looking at pictures Peace Corps volunteers had taken over the years. My heart immediately went out to all of the people in those countries. Many of them have no idea who Christ is, those that do have misconstrued ideas of who He really is. Many believe Jesus was a prophet or a very moral person. God has placed something on my heart that has been there since the time I came to know Him. However, lately He is pressing it on my heart. I cannot be content with the things of this culture, nor can things of this world satisfy me. He does not let me forget that this world is not meant to be my home. My home is with my Father in heaven.
I have no reason to be concerned with things of this world. There is nothing here that I can take with me when I die, except for the salvation that is given to me by Christ Himself. The Lord has placed upon my heart to not be worried about cars or money or higher education or expensive things. I am concerned with the souls of those around me. God has given me a unique opportunity to work with over 900 people from 68 different countries. Hearing about the way a majority of people live in the countries that are represented makes me extremely sad. For the most part I do not know anyone from those type of areas, the people in the US from other countries are here because they can afford to be here (I am referring to the students I work with). It breaks my heart to see so many girls more worried about how well their hair and make up are done and what they are wearing to this or that party. It makes me sad to hear the amount of money spent every year at fast food chains. It tears me up to know that we chose to forget about the rest of the world when so many are perishing without know who Christ is. We are leaving them without clean water to drink; yet we have indoor water parks. We leave them without food to eat; yet we buy groceries and forget about them two days later. We leave them with no hope, dying in various parts of the world from things we do not take the time to educate them about. We are no better than they, we have the answers and do not share. I am speaking to myself here. There are so many ways that I could be helping and chose not to.
God has allowed our country to have access to some of the most amazing resources, wealth, knowledge, etc. Our poor are wealthier than the rest of the worlds poor. A friend was telling me about a guy taking a poll in soup kitchens. He walks into a soup kitchen and asks everyone in the room “how many of you have cable television?” Every person in the room raised their hand. All of these people could avoid the soup kitchen if they simply did away with cable. However, we as a whole would much rather try and keep up with the Jones’ than feed the hungry, clothe the naked, share the water, and educate those who have no chance. We are a self-centered people. Our everyday choices show this.
We are so wrapped up in sports and big cars and new computers and the latest phone and the nicest house in the subdivision. God has not allowed me to be content with these things. Last year I bought an iPhone. I just “had” to have it. Honestly, I thought I deserved it, I thought all of MY hard work and MY hard earned money had earned ME a new phone. From the time I bought it until the time I sold it, that thing was a lemon! I bought it with selfish intent and it showed. My work began to take over my life. I would answer emails at 2 am (or whenever my phone would beep and tell me I had an email). I was constantly holding on to that thing, I could not let it go. It was more important to me then…well…almost any other thing. That is called idolatry. My phone was my idol. How dumb is that?! Well, a friend helped me sell it. Which was awesome because it sold for 3 times what I paid for it. Apparently it was “worth” more than I thought, monetarily anyway. God used that instance in my life to show me a phone is a piece of junk. No matter what type of phone I own, I will not be taking it with me when I die. No matter what car I drive (if any) and no matter what clothes I wear. He has not allowed me to be content with the things of this world.
God is the only thing that matters in this world. We, as Christians, seem to be the first to forget that we were not made to impress those around us. Not even other people, God does not want us to try and impress Him either. He can see straight through everything we think, say, and do. He knows us completely. He knows more about us than we could know about ourselves. We are selling ourselves short. If we live only to keep up with the Jones’ we are missing the point of life…
Are you missing the point of life? Think about what your daily thoughts, words, and actions say about what you believe. Are you truly living out what God has called you to? Do you value God more than you value your possessions?

**Please know that I am not saying you should go sell your phone, car, clothes, etc. because you are “unspiritual” for having them. These are just the things that God has shown me.**