Everybody’s been a glutton this week, and it wasn’t just those who got up early to steal the deals on Black Friday.
Black Friday seems to be the antithesis of the Gospel, exploiting people’s greedy natures to net the largest profit of the corporate year.
But even many of us Christians who have shputted the commercialism and consumer mentality of the day still found a sense of justification in something other than Jesus Christ—we found it in criticizing others.
A consumer mentality reveals our belief that stuff gives the peace, happiness and purpose we’re looking for.
A critical mentality reveals our belief that being better than others gives the peace, happiness, and purpose we’re looking for.
Which mentality which mentality did you feast on this weekend? Because you were likely feasting on one of the two.
Sometimes going to church or reading our Bibles and spending time in prayer can seem like empty rituals we go through. But reality is we go through spiritual rituals all the time. And most of them are truly empty.
We grasp at something every day to touch the core longing of our souls. Too often, we grasp for stuff we can see and measure and turn on to give us delight, reprieve, or sense of knowledge and control. Feeling joy, finding rest, and realizing our competencies all affect deep places in our hearts.
But some of us also grasp for comparison because when we don’t feel joy, can’t find rest, or aren’t sure of anything we’re actually good at, pointing out how someone else is worse than us makes up for the emptiness.
What if stuff doesn’t give lasting joy, rest, or assurance? And what if being better than others doesn’t either?
Paul told the church at Corinth that he no longer measures people as we typically do because when one comes to Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away and new things come (2 Corinthians 5:16-17).
In other words, Paul is saying that he doesn’t consider someone holier or more put together if they were able to snag a bunch of great deals on Black Friday.
But neither does he consider them holier or more put together if they have deliberately refrained from the craze of the culture and pointed it out to everyone.
Here’s what Paul claims as his basis for evaluating others:
For Christ’s love compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If One died for all, then all died. And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
Are you living for Jesus, the Messiah, who ransomed you from the grip of self-sufficiency?
Does your sense of peace come from the stuff you have or the way you’re better than others? Does your sense of hopelessness and failure come from the things you don’t have or the way you’re not as good as others?
Or does your hopelessness and feelings of failure come from the reality that at the core of our being, each of us prefer to do life without God? If this is what determines your mood, I’ve got good news for you:
Jesus has come!
Jesus has died for us and brought us into the very presence of Yahweh where all our fears dissipate, and all our longings are fully met.
A Jesus mentality reveals our belief that Yahweh gives the peace, happiness, and purpose we’re looking for—even while going through restless, painful, and mundane seasons of life.
Maybe you feasted on the wrong mentality this week, but let today be a course correction to turn your eyes back on Jesus and feast again on him.
Question: Do you find it easy to rest in Jesus for your sense of peace, happiness, and purpose? Why or why not? You can share in the comments below.
