Dependencies and Diversions

For most people, dependencies and diversions are the substance of life. So certain have we become that what we own and what we do is what gives us life, that we’ll build walls and install locks and security systems and make ourselves prisoners with and of our possessions.

We are at a stage in Western Society where we believe, we actually believe that the busier we are the more value we have. Listen to people as they sit in circles sharing with a tone of mock dismay how they simply don’t have enough hours in the day to accomplish all the things that demand their attention. Oh how important we must be since we're constantly exhausted. And, lest we find a moment to contemplate life, we keep our cell phones vibrating and our thumbs pumping ensuring that:
. reflecting on who we are
. observing our surroundings and
. making actual eye contact with another human never happens.

So certain are we that accumulating and hoarding things is what gives us life that we’ll allow our governments to build bombs to protect our stuff. Bombs! They're meant to kill human beings so that no one can take our stuff. There are some places in the United States where you can actually kill another human being if that person breaks into your house in the middle of the night. Maybe all he wanted was to steal your CD’s but his life for your CD’s is deemed a fair trade.

A line from a recent article on CNN describes the importance that “things” have gained in the Western world. “We spend money we can’t afford to spend, on things we don’t need to buy, to make impressions that won’t last, on people we don’t really care about.”

A close friend and follower of Jesus, John wrote:
“Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from Him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out - but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.”

Jesus brother and follower, James said, “If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and His way. What He gives in love is far better than anything else you'll find in the world. It's common knowledge that "God goes against the willful proud; but God gives grace to the willing humble."

Another follower of Jesus, Paul wrote, “Take your everyday, ordinary life — your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life — and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

If you read the Beatitudes - you know - “Blessed are they who . . .” Matthew 5 - you’ll notice that all of them point to people who are blessed because life has placed them in a position where they are able to realise that there is far more to life than what most people call life.

God did that for me
God broke the hold that the things of the world had upon me
I appreciate God for loving me that much.