Excess

       It seems to me we have become a people of excess.  Nothing seems worse (to me) than prom time in high school (yep, there right now).  You would think a royal wedding is being planned.  For those of you who remember days of old this is what it has become, here anyway, for a couple (very bad not to be a couple these days!!!).

             girl                                                                  boy

     $60 prom ticket                                                 $60 prom ticket

     $20 after prom party ticket                                 $20 after prom party ticket

     $200- $400 dress                                              $100 tux rental (shoes incl.)

     $20 new jewelry to match dress                           $400 limo rental for 4 hours

     $30 alterations on dress (shortening)                    $15 haircut

     $40 shoes                                                        $15 corsage (guessing)

     $40 hair styled by professional                             $610 total approximately

     $30 manicure

     $20 beauty supplies

     $480 total approximately

       So we have a grand total of $1100 for a few hours of celebrating your last year of high school.  Now, not everyone spends this much, but I’d say most do.  One girl said to me she’s sick of hearing, ‘Where are you getting your hair done’ and when she says she’s doing her own, they look down at her like she’s stupid.  Those who can’t afford or don’t want all the excess are snubbed.  Oh how I miss the days of cheap new dress or borrowed dress, get mom to do the hair and go have fun.

       Prom isn’t society’s only excess.  Three to six tv’s in a house, six or more computers/ laptops and tablets, two or three game systems, one cellphone per person, ipods and mp3’s, and that’s just technology.  Closets full of clothes, shelves full of shoes and purses, ten coats or jackets per person- check it out, it’s true.  $200 dollar appliance to cook fries with very little oil, $80 coffee machine to brew by the cup, $800 new counter top, $1400 washer and dryer (and they still don’t fold your clothes!), etc.  Restaurants or take out 2 or 3 times a week, Timmie’s every work day, dessert every night…

None of this excess has made us any happier.

       Do we really need it?  No, but we want for it.  What we don’t see is that in the end excess serves to keep us in the bondage of our passions instead of living in the true freedom with peace and joy in Christ.  We must work more to buy more, increase cleaning time for all the stuff, find storage for it all, buy more accessories for it all, build more room to fit more in, buy bigger pants to eat more…  it never ends; it’s a vicious cycle and our lives are no better for it.

Excess.

       Did Jesus ever live in excess such as this or did He ever encourage it?  There is no place I have read it, for whether or not He was poor, He didn’t live in excess.  If we are to follow His example, He showed us how to live a humble and selfless life while seeking the Father’s will first. 

(colours, bold, underline are mine for emphasis)

money, food:

I have shown you all things, that working in this way we ought to help the weak*, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. (*feeble, sick)  Ac. 20:35

Do not labor to be rich; cease from your own understanding.  Pr. 23:4

Their destiny is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on worldly things.  Php. 3:19

"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.  "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Mt. 6:24,25  ESV

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.  Mt. 6:33

possessions:

Do not lay up treasures on earth for yourselves, where moth and rust corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up treasures in Heaven for yourselves, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  Mt. 6:19-21

Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because all that is in the world, the lust* of the flesh, and the lust* of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  1Jh. 2:15,16  (*desire, craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden, lust)

how to live:

I say, then, Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.  Gal. 5:16

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that having denied ungodliness and worldly lusts*, we should live discreetly, righteously and godly, in this present world, Tt. 2:11,12

Dearly beloved, I exhort you as temporary residents and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts* which war against the soul,  1Pt. 2:11 (*see note 1Jh 2:16 above)

WARNING:

Know this also, that in the last days grievous times will be at hand. For men* will be self-lovers, money-lovers, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, unyielding, false accusers, without self-control, savage, despisers of good, traitors, reckless, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power of it; even turn away from these.  2Tm 3:1-5 (*human beings- believers OR not!)

…For whatever overcomes a person,

to that he is enslaved.

2Pt. 2:19

Everything is permissible for me,

but not everything is helpful.

Everything is permissible for me,

but I will not allow anything to control me.

1Cor. 6:12 ISV