Consumer or Consumee
Some of you might find this blog somewhat familiar. It is a reedited repost of an articled that first appeared in my blog back on Thursday April 26, 2006. The orginal is still there, if you care to see how I changed it. However, I figure that many of the folks that read the blog now where not reading it last year.
The natural state and activity of a consumer is consuming. From a very early age we learn to consume. It is only natural. No consumption, no growth. If you do not consume you die, there is no alternative. You cannot require a baby to produce milk, will not happen. As we grow we refine our consumerist ways, as babies we do milk, we move on to puréed apples and ham (they sell it, babies will eat anything), then French fries and chicken fingers, Baby Einstein, on to Best Buy, Olive Garden, Ford, a mortgage, and any number of other things that are much to numerous to list. Simply stated we consume. There really is nothing wrong with consumption because it sustains life. We must eat, we must get to work, we must have a place to live, and a computer or maybe an iPod are nice luxuries. We are, from the get go, consumers by nature.
Our whole understanding of reality is based on our experience. As a result, a change in how we understand our experience is required.
Consumerism just don’t cut it in relationships, but we see it all the time. We see marriages lasting 2 or 3 years because the participants have mined the relationship for all its worth. We see parents lose their ability to parent because they are more interested in being their child’s friend than their child’s parent. We see children using their parents as an ATM. Now, don’t hear me wrong, there is some good to being your child’s friend, and parents usually have more money than their children. But, it is safe to say that it is possible to reduce relationships to a very basic consumer level.
It can happen with God too. We carry our innate consumer mentality into our relationship with God. We hear that God wants to bless us with this or that. God loves you, He wants what is best for you, and it looks like a new house, a new car, a job promotion, I feel you probably get the gist by now. Look in the bible; while we do see some people blessed with material wealth and physical comfort, we also see many more who are not. For example, the Apostle Paul went through countless hardships in his life. Towards the end he said, “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure (1 Timothy 4:6 NIV). Paul was giving out like crazy. He spent time in jail, he was “flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times [he] received …the forty lashes minus one. Three times [he] was beaten with rods, once [he] was stoned, three times [he] was shipwrecked, [he] spent a night and a day in the open sea (2 Corinthians 11:23 25 NIV).” He goes on to talk about how he was constantly on the move, in danger from rivers, bandits, his own countrymen, the gentiles, in cities, in the country, in the sea, and false brothers. He labored and toiled, went with out sleep, was hungry and thirsty, even cold and naked (2 Corinthians 11:26, 27). Brother had it bad. It is safe to say Paul was no consumer. That man was used up, poured out big time.
We also see the early follower of Christ named Stephen. He was out doing “great wonders and miraculous signs among the people (Acts 6:8 NIV).” Got the attention of a lot of people that did not like his wonders and miracles. Stephen ended up dead because of his life of surrender. He too was poured out, used up, consumed.
I urge you, be consumed. It is not easy. It does not come natural. When you get together with other followers, when you go out from that get together, when you are in school, when you talk to your boss and coworkers, when you eat at Crispers, be a consumee. It probably will not be easy; in fact it will very likely require pain and sacrifice. Future, it is quite likely no “but” will be any where in the story. We do not see the story go, “be consumed and make a sacrifice, but it will be ok because God will give you this or that.” No, there may possibly be no earthly reward, there could be a great reward, but there could just as easily be no reward. Of course, the good thing is, we have already won, (sounds like it may make a good song). Christ is glorified in the cross. His grace abounds and we are His. It is not merely our duty to serve; our consumption is not based on an obligation. Christ is glorified, He carries everything you could never be in grace and an ultimate God sized love that is worthy. He gives us a way out of our tangled little messes so that we can have a profound existence unequalled by our finite earthy imaginations. I mean come on, He created the universe, do you know how big that is?
Be consumed, get closer, and love much!
The natural state and activity of a consumer is consuming. From a very early age we learn to consume. It is only natural. No consumption, no growth. If you do not consume you die, there is no alternative. You cannot require a baby to produce milk, will not happen. As we grow we refine our consumerist ways, as babies we do milk, we move on to puréed apples and ham (they sell it, babies will eat anything), then French fries and chicken fingers, Baby Einstein, on to Best Buy, Olive Garden, Ford, a mortgage, and any number of other things that are much to numerous to list. Simply stated we consume. There really is nothing wrong with consumption because it sustains life. We must eat, we must get to work, we must have a place to live, and a computer or maybe an iPod are nice luxuries. We are, from the get go, consumers by nature.
Our whole understanding of reality is based on our experience. As a result, a change in how we understand our experience is required.
Consumerism just don’t cut it in relationships, but we see it all the time. We see marriages lasting 2 or 3 years because the participants have mined the relationship for all its worth. We see parents lose their ability to parent because they are more interested in being their child’s friend than their child’s parent. We see children using their parents as an ATM. Now, don’t hear me wrong, there is some good to being your child’s friend, and parents usually have more money than their children. But, it is safe to say that it is possible to reduce relationships to a very basic consumer level.
It can happen with God too. We carry our innate consumer mentality into our relationship with God. We hear that God wants to bless us with this or that. God loves you, He wants what is best for you, and it looks like a new house, a new car, a job promotion, I feel you probably get the gist by now. Look in the bible; while we do see some people blessed with material wealth and physical comfort, we also see many more who are not. For example, the Apostle Paul went through countless hardships in his life. Towards the end he said, “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure (1 Timothy 4:6 NIV). Paul was giving out like crazy. He spent time in jail, he was “flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times [he] received …the forty lashes minus one. Three times [he] was beaten with rods, once [he] was stoned, three times [he] was shipwrecked, [he] spent a night and a day in the open sea (2 Corinthians 11:23 25 NIV).” He goes on to talk about how he was constantly on the move, in danger from rivers, bandits, his own countrymen, the gentiles, in cities, in the country, in the sea, and false brothers. He labored and toiled, went with out sleep, was hungry and thirsty, even cold and naked (2 Corinthians 11:26, 27). Brother had it bad. It is safe to say Paul was no consumer. That man was used up, poured out big time.
We also see the early follower of Christ named Stephen. He was out doing “great wonders and miraculous signs among the people (Acts 6:8 NIV).” Got the attention of a lot of people that did not like his wonders and miracles. Stephen ended up dead because of his life of surrender. He too was poured out, used up, consumed.
I urge you, be consumed. It is not easy. It does not come natural. When you get together with other followers, when you go out from that get together, when you are in school, when you talk to your boss and coworkers, when you eat at Crispers, be a consumee. It probably will not be easy; in fact it will very likely require pain and sacrifice. Future, it is quite likely no “but” will be any where in the story. We do not see the story go, “be consumed and make a sacrifice, but it will be ok because God will give you this or that.” No, there may possibly be no earthly reward, there could be a great reward, but there could just as easily be no reward. Of course, the good thing is, we have already won, (sounds like it may make a good song). Christ is glorified in the cross. His grace abounds and we are His. It is not merely our duty to serve; our consumption is not based on an obligation. Christ is glorified, He carries everything you could never be in grace and an ultimate God sized love that is worthy. He gives us a way out of our tangled little messes so that we can have a profound existence unequalled by our finite earthy imaginations. I mean come on, He created the universe, do you know how big that is?
Be consumed, get closer, and love much!
posted by Kevin at
1:31 PM
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