~ Paper Planes by M.I.A ~ This is a catchy tune! In fact if you get in your head you can't get it out... this is a tune from Slum dog Millionaire (worth seeing!)...
I am really interested in the lyrics of this song, it says a lot about our desires, the western mindset and "third world democracy". The heartbeat of this song is about money and any possible way of getting it from hustling, making visas and taking your money!
The Chorus is very catchy:
"All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
And (KKKAAAA CHING!) And take your money"
Does the world revolve around money? It appears so. But was this what we were made for? Were we made to take as much money as possible - To get rich and die. Is that satisfying? I think it might burn a hole in our insides.
Jesus makes remarkable statements about money and our possessions. To one man he says -
"Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”" (Mark 10:21)
What would we do if Jesus directly said that to us today? I find it interesting how we dismiss this verse and say that Jesus isn't saying that to us now. But I wonder if thats because the crutch of this statement is so brutal to our pride in our material possessions that giving up everything is impossible. But look at what Jesus offers in return for giving up his money - treasure in heaven. Treasure in Heaven!! If all we want to do is "take your money" then we are missing the joy of treasure in heaven. Jesus is saying that there is something greater then money, something far more satisfying that is worth giving up everything for.
My favourite parable is the parable of the hidden treasure, where the man sells everything to buy a field to have the treasure in it. That is what the Kingdom of heaven is like!! Can we offer this to the secular world? When the obsession of money is hitting a peek, yet recession is upon us, can we offering something that will not fade or rot? Imagine having an eternal treasure that is worth more then anything in this world put together...
I was thinking of questions that I could ask, for instance - why is the world obsessed with money? Is it so they can get more stuff... and then what? What do you do after you get stuff - more stuff? Until stuff collects dust and we get bored...
Does having money truly satisfy? How do we see examples of it not in our culture - particulary looking at those in the media spotlight?
When do you have enough to be satisfied?
What do you think it would be like to have a treasure that will be truly satisfying and never fade nor corrupt?
Jesus says some amazing things about money, that you cannot serve Money and God. What do you think would be better to serve?
What I love about the Gospel is that it says that money will fade and wither and that there is no certainty in money and that when we become christians we no longer have to be enslaved with money, because our Father provides for all our needs and therefore we do not need to worry. It is essential to realise that money is important in our society, but it should not be an idol nor something we should strive to get more and more of to make ourselves happy. No, we have an amazing God that will provide abundantly when we need things and He is our source of delight!
What a fantastic message to bring to the world... will they listen? Imagine if they did? No longer would there be need to search for happiness in money.
I tell you something, when I was in Peru I saw some of the poorest christians I have ever known - yet they were in fact the most rejoicing Christians because there depedancy for everything was on the Lord... what an amazing witness to us and what an Amazing God we serve...!
2 comments:
Two things:
1. I love the message of Jesus calling us to be willing to give up everything - imagine how filled with faith we'd be if we were willing to lay everything at God's feet and say 'OK, I'll go there!' Though it sounds scary, it's awesome to remember that God a) promises to provide for us, and with this in mind, b) is fully able to provide for all our material, spiritual and emotional needs. I wonder if that's what put the rich young man in the parable off from giving up the little he had in comparison to Jesus' riches?
2. Paper planes! ^^
If Jesus were physically walking this earth today, it would be interesting to see Him tell some of the popular televangelists of today the same thing He told the rich man in Mark 10:21.
I have been tempted before to wish that I had millions of dollars, so that I could give every person in my family a large sum of money. But then I think, "Do they really need all that money? Aren't they doing OK just the way they are now?"
According to one report, the average American's wealth amounted to more than 100 times higher than that of the average Indian or Indonesian. The next wealthiest after America were Canada, Western Europe, Japan and Israel. Most people do not live as well as middle-class Americans live.
Some Christians have shared with me a desire to be wealthy, so that they could give more to ministries. But statistically, those who are the most rich are not the ones who give the most (proportionally) to charities. And really, God doesn't need our money anyway. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. There are faith missionaries, for example, who rely on God alone for their needs.
In the West, and especially in America, we have become extremely materialistic. Humanism is our religion, and money is our god.
The rich young ruler told Jesus that he had kept all the Commandments. But Jesus' reply revealed that he hadn't even kept the first Commandment, 'You shall have no other gods before me.' For in fact, money was his god.
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