The Proper Order

Over the last few months I've thought a lot about the American way of life. The extravagance, the wealth, the comfort, the need for noise and entertainment, patriotism. And I wonder how it came to this.

I think back to my time in Turkey and Greece this past January. As you walk through the ruins of these cities you see ancient cities with features that are very similar to modern ones. The thing that stands out in my mind most are the massive stadiums built for athletic competitions. A few thousand years ago people built massive stadiums for thousands, in some places tens of thousands, of people to sit and view sporting events. There are amphitheaters of the same magnitude built to entertain the masses. Sound like anything today?

You see the extravagance of the life styles. Marble everywhere, gold mosaics, massive columns. In Ephesus there was a public restroom, and the rich actually had a slave that would sit and warm the stone seat for them.

Is America really that different? We are addicted to entertainment. So much that we have people making millions of dollars because they can perform well athletically. You have actors who can perform well, so we make them rich. We have to buy the newest and most expensive phone, computer, or laptop, even if there is nothing wrong with the one we have. You have people who are so patriotic, Christians even, that have mass public celebrations over a man's death.

You see it in the church as well. I was talking to a friend who shared with me about a church where the senior pastor made 90 thousand plus a year, while the youth pastor made under 20 thousand. Both are full time, and when it came time to cut budgets guess whose salary was cut, the youth pastors.

Look at some of the churches that are built. I was in one church that had a $7 million dollar marble altar. When I was in Flint, a city with 34% unemployment at the time, I was in a church that had just purchased a $25,000 communion table, and the guy telling me about it was happy, and expected me to be too.

I'm not saying we shouldn't have nice Churches, it is the House of God, and God deserves our best, but where is the line. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with sporting events and movies as entertainment, but everything in moderation. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with patriotism, with wanting to defend your country, and celebrating when it wins victories. The problem comes when our influence is wrong.

I wonder if we have let our Americanism influence us too much. Am I an American Christian, or a Christian American? Does my American citizenship define my Christianity, or does my Christianity define my American way of life?

Philippians 3.17-21,

"Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself."

Our citizenship is in Heaven, not America. Let my mind be set on the things that glorify God and build the Kingdom. May my life be lived in a way that eagerly waits for the Savior, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. May our Christianity define who we are as Americans, not the other way around. If Americanism influences our Christianity, no wonder we've lost sight of what this is really supposed to look like. Let's put things in the proper order.

Peace be with you