Unsatisfied? Reconsider self-gifting

An NPR comment caught my ear: "Self-gifting is a new thing. People would never have purchased for themselves fifty years ago! That would have been considered a lack of humility."

Humility is hardly a valued characteristic in a generation that grew up singing, "I Did It My Way," or their children who hummed along to, "Break Your Heart." It's all about me, my values, my wants. MY presents! Even if I buy them myself.

Around Thanksgiving I decided to "fast" from shopping until after Christmas. Our kids could pick ornaments, china, electronics, crystal, or chatchkis from our house if they needed more stuff. They sure don't want my husband or me buying junk to pile on top of their things, no matter how nice we think that junk is or how much we spend. Do your family and friends feel the same?

I can't tell you how often I've clicked out of an online shopping cart since my spending fast began. Or how many times I've forgotten and purchased a trinket or indulgence. Last weekend, I splurged on salted caramel handmade chocolates. Not because I needed them but because my eyes desired them and I forgot about my fast. Consumerism makes it easy to splurge on self-gifts: "You deserve this." "You have looked for this for a long time." (Do three weeks feel long to you?) "It's on sale." Etc.

In contrast, God's self-gifts are unlike ours. He doesn't look for His own advantage, for what we can give Him. Instead, He spends Himself freely on us as a response of His loving character. He wants to be with us. He cherishes the creatures He has made enough to reach out to us through Jesus (aptly cliched  as "the Reason for the season.")

God refuses to be our Gimme-Genie. The biblical writer James warns, "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." (James 4:3)

I've asked God for a lot of things: health, safety, money for school, and peace in the family. He's often responded with, "Yes, gladly!" But not always. Sometimes we get sick. We run out of resources. Relationships churn through difficult times. God doesn't always give us what we think we deserve or want. Faith demands trust in a God who knows what is best and right for us and those we care about.

Instead of spending money and resources on our pleasures, shall we consider giving ourselves away this month? After all, when we belong to God, we should imitate him in all things. We can gift love to the unlovable. Justice instead of self-service. Mercy instead of punitive action. Grace to the most undeserving. Friendship with the unlovely. Generosity to the poor.

That kind of self-giving is ultimately satisfying and soul-filling. Plus you skip the huge debts and financial self-immolation that hits after the holidays are over. What do you think?

Read more:
*You are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long. Psalm 25:5

*Christ says, “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” Matthew 7:7

*Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35 NIV

*[In the last week of his life, Jesus said,] "Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete." John 16:22-24

Moravian Prayer: O God of our salvation, eternal hope and source of strength, let our lives be a response to your steadfast love and grace. Amen.

Myths and Fables vs. true religion

Hindu offering

When did you last marvel at the direction spirituality has taken in the West? For me, it was this morning.

I opened an email from Mother Earth News, offering a free viewing of a film, titled “I Am.” Its caption: “What if the solution to the world’s problems was right in front of us all along? Everyone needs to see this film!” And below, a quote from Buddha: “Be a light unto yourself.” The film was produced for Gaiam TV, a Hindu-based (yoga) network.

The questions filmmaker Tom Shadyac asks: “What’s wrong with the world? And what can we do to fix it?”

Buddhist art

I’m bemused when I hear accusations that Christianity is only myths and fables. There’s more archaeological evidence for the historicity of – and more manuscripts of – biblical writings than any other historical documents of the time. Yet where are the scholars who are tearing into the Koran, Hindu writings, or Buddhist scripts with presumptions that they are forgeries, made-up tales of lunatic writers, or historically inaccurate. Why attack the Bible so fiercely?

Religion is humanity’s attempt to please God or the gods by doing something. Sacrifices, pilgrimages, prayers, and rituals are part of systems responding to the Unseen, appeasing the gods, or winning favor.

Torah scroll

The Creator understood our human need to express devotion and attention, to make appeals and requests, and to understand our surroundings. Books 2-5 of Moses (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) explained to Israelites – uneducated, raw from slavery and oppression, and being shaped by I AM into a innovative culture of blessing to the world – how God could be approached. The laws and rituals realigned them from pagan idolatry to the Creator’s nature of lovingkindness, goodness, and justice.

Alternative "medicine"

But we hate being told what to do! It’s easier to:

·      walk on a bed of nails

·      breathe in and out contemplatively, thinking only of the current moment, blocking out our sins or suffering

·      deprive oneself of pleasures in a monastery

·      endure hunger, heat, and cold in the name of self-actualization

·      devise strict systems of discipline in eating, exercise, and meditation

·      focus on self as the center of the universe and the solution for world peace, environmental care, self-love, or whatever the faddish focus

·      slavishly follow a charismatic guru with wise-sounding philosophies

·      chip off part of God’s Truth and manipulate until it twists and warps to fit us rather than molds our nature to please God …

… than it is to do as God has told us.

The Ten Commandments

God hasn’t suggested inner happiness and wholeness. Instead, he’s laid out for us exactly what it would take to achieve those things. Hard things, that cut to the core of our motivation, like:

·      honor God, not only with words but with actions, with our time and wealth, with our energy and devotion

·      become friends to the poor and needy and help them bear their burdens

·      love others as we love ourselves

·      meditate on God’s Word and let it shape our lives

·      pray, fast, and do other spiritual disciplines as alignment with God rather than as self-discipline and self-promotion

·      be thankful for what God has given us: the husband/wife/single life, the family, the possessions, the job, the ---

·      keep ourselves free from unforgiveness and jealousy so that our relationships are sweet rather than bitter

These things require self-renouncement without external praise or affirmation from others. They happen between us and God. And God judges the heart, knowing how sincere our motivation and how much integrity we have.

DIY - or not ...

Ugh. There’s no faking it with God, so we’d rather turn away from our shame and failings to devise our own systems of right-ness. We feel better when we can attain some goodness without accountability. We prefer “DIY” checklists rather than exposure to God’s searchlight of perfection and his solution of Christ as Savior, Benefactor, and PeaceMaker.

Because of this, complicated myths and fables arise in cultures, becoming systems of worship and self-protection against spiritual beings. Anthropologists record many stories of the Flood, tales of Father and Son gods who save their people, and rules upon rules of behavior that mimic the Ten Commandments. Our first parents knew the stories and passed them down, interwoven with human worship systems.

Muslim pilgrims

Why are religious counterfeits still so compelling and enduring today? Why am I reading nonsense from Mother Earth News promoting self-idolatry? Because we instinctively know God’s ways. In Self-preservation, we reject the laws he has written on our conscience and refuse guidance by his Holy Spirit.

Rebuffing his good direction has always brought deceit and religiosity … without life. It has killed us from the inside out: entire cultures become cruel and self-seeking. We are able to do things so vile – in the name of religion – that other humans shudder in disbelief. Sacrifice of children to ensure the harvest, maiming the innocent for temple worship, mass slaughter of those who disagree with our beliefs. Unthinkable. It’s been going on since humanity’s rebellion against God’s prescription, “Do not eat of this one fruit, because it will kill you.”

To those seeking self-actualization through guided meditation or physical movement, harmony through good works and positive thoughts, or self-medicating with the jewels of materialism, remember that we’re not inventive. Idols have always appealed to more people than the terror, accountability, and overwhelming awe of a relationship with the Living God.

Accepting the sacrifice; telling the Story

Today, we may choose again – for or against Him, but only on His terms.

Achieving a true flow or “harmony” with the Creator’s purposes (glory to God, peace on earth, and goodwill toward humanity) will cost us everything. Our pride. Our self-will. Ownership of anything. Human systems of religious accomplishment and recognition. It will even cost some of us our lives, today or in the future.

But what we win, what we win! Life, inner peace, joy, Love, kindness, goodness, self-control, friendship with God, integrity, and wholeness.

What is that kind of a life worth to you?

Read more:

* Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24 NIV

*If you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord. Jeremiah 29:13-14

*Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” Luke 19:4-5

Moravian Prayer: O Lord, sometimes it is difficult to hear your voice amid the everyday noise and distractions of our lives. Pause our lives, if only for an instant, to let us hear you clearly and know that you are still with us. Amen.