– Monday Muse –
Dear one, over the phone my friend said, “Good bye, love ya.” I said the same to her. I was touched by her words, and I think that she was encouraged by mine. However, if we did not know each other so well, we would have reason to doubt sincerity. For what ARE we Americans saying ev-er-y-day, all-the-day-long? “Oh, I LOVE _____.” Fill in the blank with nearly every thing, or every activity, known to man from coast to coast and border to border.
Just recently, a local radio announcer said, “I would love to have you listen.” Really, love? I have been heard saying, “I love hot dogs!” Come on! It is family, friends, and others that we love, or should be. We only like, enjoy, relish, are fond of, or are partial to hot dogs.
We seem to be in the era of extremes. Let’s just take a look at ourselves. Are we not in search of our umpteenth next best coffee, beer, ice cream, dessert, barbecued ribs, death by chocolate, larger home, smarter phone, tighter, shorter, more expressive clothing, jeans with the most manufactured holes, and so on. The list is unending. What are we doing? Where is our focus?
If I am wondering, I suspect that you are wondering as well. What’s next in this world of ours?
Earlier this week, I happened to be in the family room during the opening of the Lion’s football game. As I watched it, all that came to mind was hedonistic. Ron questioned me about the word, “What do you mean?” I replied, “I don’t know, but something here seems off. I feel as if I should not have watched it, as if it was unhealthy. The thought, of hedonistic just popped up. I’m not even absolutely sure what hedonistic means.” So I looked it up. I wear out dictionaries.
Hedonistic:
1. Seeking of pleasure; a devotion, especially a self-indulgent one, to pleasure and happiness as a way of life.
2. Philosophy of pleasure: a philosophical doctrine that holds that pleasure is the highest good or the source of moral values.
I took from what I read that perhaps my inner questioning had to do with a concern over the possible weakening of our moral values.
Quite sometime ago, after Ron and I read the Hunger Game’s books together, we began attending the (2012) Hunger Game movies. I remember intently watching the fictional characters who lived within the opulent Capital. All its citizens lived entirely in the extreme. It made me shiver, and I could not help but wonder? Are we, as a nation, experiencing the beginning of such extremes? And, what is the cost of such extremes, surely it is not merely monetary?
Throughout this time of increasing self-indulgence, involvement in the Christian community throughout affluent nations, on both sides of the pond, is weakening. What is behind this? Is our propensity for extremes Satan’s way of squeezing God out of our lives. Is this his plan – to move us so much into loving things and activities that our pattern of living for God fades, as if trampled under rhinestone studded, sequined, light-flashing tennis shoes. Whatever the case, we can be sure of this. God has a better plan, a plan that one can sincerely love.
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory
that has overcome the world…our faith. Who is he who overcomes the
world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:4-5
Blessings,
Susanne
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