Revelation 22:12; “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.” (NIV)
I was texting back and forth with a good friend last night as he and his wife are slowly digging themselves out of debt. One thing I “texted” him was the fact that living debt free is not only liberating but it has allowed my wife and I to “pay forward” which is what God intends for us to do with our time, talents and money.
I was speaking at a meeting last night and made the point on how our society as a whole had fallen asleep to the evils of consumerism. In the last 25 years or so we became a society that virtually out consumed itself. In some ways we fell asleep and into a routine and basically did what society told us to do; get a job, spend beyond our means, keep the job so we can pay for what we spent our money on 5 to 25 years after we spent the money at 10 times the original cost. In essence we became a society that grew comfortable in paying backwards. Then the market crashed due to our consumerism and paying backwards turned into defaults on loans, bankruptcies and a huge mess.  The U.S. had built a financial model that was destined to crash and it did…and the devil was laughing all the way to the bank(s).Â
Oh yeah we try to blame the government, the banks and the credit card companies for the market problems, but who went to the banks and got loans for 120% of the value of their homes? Who spent well beyond our means? We did, “the great pay backward society” did. Blaming the lendors for our pay backward habits would be like me blaming a bar for serving me too many drinks and making me an alcoholic.
The consumeristic mindset is simply a self-centered, self-serving, self-focused way of living. (Please note I write all of my blogs based on personal experience.) God calls us to be contributors and givers; consumerism is not a part of the giving equation.Â
When I woke up to my self-centered ways many years ago the only way I could get out of myself was to get into God and His teachings. The more I read His word, the more He told me I wasn’t living the way he wanted me to live. In essence he calls us to love Him, love others and help those who need help. He calls us to live with our eyes and hands looking and lifting upward , outward and forward. Consumerism causes us to live with our eyes and hands looking and lifting downward, inward and backwards.
The words of Jesus in Revelation 22 says it all. On “that day” we will be given according to what we have done…incentive enough for me to continue to live in a way that allows me to pay forward…how about you?
P.E.A.C.E.
