More, More, More

The other day Oprah had her "Favourite Things" show. Now, I do not watch much television. In fact, since I have been at university, I have yet to watch any, save a couple episodes of Glee. But, my roommate does have a television, and she does enjoy talk shows, like Oprah. I used to love Oprah's Favourite Things when I was a kid. I guess it had something to do with the way people got stuff, beautiful stuff, for no effort. I have always loved stuff, but it wasn't really the stuff: it was that stuff can give people higher social status. Anyway, this show was crazy. I just watched it for a few minutes, and people were going crazy over the littlest things. The audience was nearly brought to tears when Oprah announced she was giving away her favourite cashmere sweater. They screamed, and it bordered on manic. And I thought "what the flip? It is only a sweater." All the people in the audience already had sweaters, you could tell. Some of them were wearing them. It was sort of disturbing, really.

The thing is, our society is always concerned with MORE, MORE, MORE. But that is not what the Bible tells us. The Bible tells us something that is, quite frankly revolutionary and counter-culture: "He must become greater, I must become less." (John 3:30). Following Christ has nothing to do with getting more and being more. It means giving more, loving more, being less, being humble. Hebrews 12:1 says, "let us throw off everything that hinders..." So maybe it is our stuff that is hindering our walk with Christ, the stuff we think we need, but what is keeping us from the truth that Jesus is all we need. In a world where people are always trying to get more for themselves: "successful" careers, a nice house, and a comfortable salary, it's time we started thinking of how to get rid of this stuff that hinders us. It's time we stopped hungering for material things and started hungering for more God: more awareness of Him, more time in prayer, serving Him more.
So that's what I am doing this Christmas season. I am forgetting about the stuff and thinking more about loving God and loving people. I am thanking God for what I have, and it truly is more than I need, and I am sharing my resources with others.
One beautiful part of this revolutionary, Christ-following way of life is the way everyone wins. I, the North American person blessed with what could be called riches, can give to people who aere in need. In doing this, I am blessed because giving truly makes me joyful, and because I am acting in God's will, which always is a happy thing to do. And they are blessed, by getting education or clean water or enough food. As Gandhi said something like this:
"There is enough in the world for everybody's need, but not enough for anybody's greed." Let us not be greedy. Let us be grateful. Let us be generous. Let us love.