The American Way

Today I am going shopping – I love to shop! I just love new things – out with the old and in with the new! I am so tired of my chairs, I need new colors. And the carpet is so worn, I definitely need new carpet. A new sound system would be great, along with some new music to go with it. I think while I am out shopping for new stuff I’ll get some new friends too. I’m tired of my old friends. They just don’t understand me. One of them really hurt my feelings when he ignored me yesterday. Now that I think about it, I’ll get new family too. I’m just tired of them. They don’t like any of my ideas. And they have terrible, disgusting habits. They have bad breath in the mornings, can you believe that?! They leave messes all over the house and they expect me to work for them all the time – always wanting meals and clean clothes. I think I can find a better family, better things, a better house, a new life! Yes - I’m going out to find a new life!

Americans today have no commitment to job, friends, church, or family. They can go shopping for new ones any time they get tired of them or mad at them. America has become one gigantic shopping mall, where you can buy and then discard any aspect of life you choose. We no longer need to work through our problems, we can simply walk away from them. We have become a nation of shallow, self-centered, wealthy, proud and arrogant individuals.

Is this what it means to be an American? Freedom from commitment? Freedom to have whatever I want? Freedom to do whatever I want? Is this what our founding fathers had in mind when they began a revolutionary war with England and founded our country? What is freedom?

This attitude even exists in the American church. People hop from church to church. The divorce rate in the church is the same as the divorce rate outside it. Does going to church make any difference in people’s lives? What does it mean to be a Christian? Are we any different from the rest of the world? Are all these church people who look like the world Christians? What does it mean to be a Christian?

Is my church about me and my preferences? Is my marriage about me and what I want? Is life really about me? I submit to you that if you are a Christian, life is not about you. Church is not about us at all, it is about God. My marriage is not about me – it’s about being a picture of Christ and His bride, the church. My life is not my own at all, it belongs to Christ. I ask you to look at your life. Does it look like the world out there? Does sin rule your life? Do you expect life to revolve around you? Do you expect your church to revolve around your wants and desires? Do you expect your marriage to be about you? If so, maybe you need to evaluate yourself. Are you in a life-changing relationship with God? Is your life about Him? If not, then you should ask yourself if you are a Christian. If you are a Christian, maybe you should check in with God. Christianity is more than a name, or a title, or a church, or a religion. It’s a real relationship that changes your life. Let it change you.
Rebecca A Givens, 10/11/07