Consumed...

...with consumption.

I recently read a quote from retail analyst Victor Labeau

“Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption…we need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate.”(said after World War 2)

I don't know about you, but that scares me. This quote is obviously very old, but you can look at our society today and see that they were successful in making this a realization in our lives. We are consumed with consuming. The words that scare me the most from that quote is that "we would seek our spiritual satisfaction...in consumption."

This may explain why there are 37 different iPod's for people to chose from. I don't know about you, but it's really tempting to find satisfaction in the aisles at Best Buy...the only problem is that it never lasts. At least, not in my life.

I think Jesus probably knew something about having genuine satisfaction that doesn't go away in a few days. I think the scene with the woman at the well (John 4:9-26) is far more applicable to us today than we realize. The only difference is today Jesus isn't hanging out at a watering hole. He's walking the aisles at Best Buy, Target, or any other retail store where people are seeking for satisfaction through the things they consume. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing sinful about shopping at Best Buy or Target. That isn't the point. The point is when we start to get our identity, our satisfaction through the things that we consume we are being consumed ourselved with consumption. It's a never ending cycle that only leads to unsatisfied, empty, shallow lives.

The real problem though is when we try to turn God into something that we consume, just like a new DVD player or flat screen tv. The Bible doesn't talk about us consuming God in that way...but it does say a quite a bit about thing things that can consume us.

What
consumes
you
?

peace,
glo

hulkamania?

I think my daughter might already be a hulkamaniac.

This is how she sleeps sometimes... look familiar?
I'm going to have to find her a hulk hogan t-shirt now...

peace,
glo

art in a church?

So we do things a little different at KC Life...

This Friday night at 7pm we will have our second gallery opening of new artwork in the Streetlight art gallery. The topic of all the artwork is "faith". All of the art is contributed by local artists and all the proceeds from the sale of any of the work go towards the House of Dreams Orphanage in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

I'll be posting pictures of the new artwork on here next week sometime, but if you want to be one of the first to see the new work come join us on Friday night.

peace,
glo

You deserve to be happy.

Actually we all do. That's what we were created for. That's one of the main reasons Christ came to earth, died and rose again. I realize religion has skewed most of our perspectives to the point in which we sometimes seriously question the previous statement...but that isn't Jesus' fault...it's our own. We all deserve life, genuine life and that is what Christ said He came to give us.

The problem isn't that He doesn't want to give us life, the problem is that most of us are still deciding what we think genuine life is...and if we aren't with forethought about discovering the absolute definition we will wander through our short existence and never come close to experiencing real life.

Miller Light offers us a high life.
Hollywood offers us a glamorous life.
Citibank offers us a life, right now (they forget to tell us about the consequences of trying to get life from a credit card).
Most religions offer a semblance of life if you really "plug in".

Jesus offers us abundant life, but not like everyone and everything else. He is the only one in history who ever said "I am the life."

I ran across a couple quotes from men far more intelligent than me that sum it up pretty good...

"If I want to travel north and all the roads are cut to the east, of course I shall complain of the roads. I shall find nothing but obstacles; I shall have to surmount walls, and cross rivers, and go round about, and after all fail my end." ~ John Henry Newman

About this statement, Eugene Peterson (The Message Bible guy) said this...

"Such is the conduct of those who are trying to achieve some meaning in their lives, pursuing their right to happiness, but refusing to take the well-traveled roads that lead there."

There is a well-traveled road to happiness and genuine life. We're going to start exploring what it is this Sunday.

peace,
glo

The goal

It's that time...when everyone makes decisions to do something different with their lives and most of the time we fizzle out by the middle of February. We call it our "new years resolution" or "goals"...no matter what terminology you use the new year ushers in a sense of starting over, of being able to make something in your life or about your life better than it was in 2007.

Anne Frank said "Then, without realizing it, you try to improve yourself at the start of each new day; of course, you achieve quite a lot in the course of time. Anyone can do this, it costs nothing and is certainly very helpful. Whoever doesn't know it must learn and find by experience that a quiet conscience makes one strong."

The Bible talks about a goal, maybe the only goal that really matters. 1 Timothy 1:5 says "The goal of our instruction is love, from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith."

Our goal as followers of Christ is not to make it to church on Sunday...we are the church.
Our goal is not to be religious...Jesus hated religion and those who lived religious lives.

The
goal
is
love

That's it. To simply love God and love others. Jesus gave us the golden rule in His time here on earth, to love others as we would choose to be loved. Paul instructs us on how that is done from a holistic viewpoint: mind, body and soul.
A pure heart = body
A good conscience = mind
A sincere faith = soul

This is what we're going to explore this Sunday.
What does it mean to love people from a pure heart?
What does it look like to love from a good conscience?
How do you love from a sincere faith?

The goal is love. The path is faith, love and a good conscience.

We're going to start a journey on this path at KC Life...

I'll keep you updated on where it takes us.

peace,
glo