We live in it, so how can the cancer of consumerism not infect us? The economic engine of marketing drives materialistic self-focused lifestyles. I am an Apple fan. I love my MacBook and iPod nano and don’t understand why anyone would possibly want to use a PC. I readily relate to the laidback, casually dressed Apple icon verses the stiff formal PC symbol used in the TV commercials. Marketing gurus know how to create emotional attachment to their products. The Apple’s latest iPod is called iPod touch. Have you seen it? I want one! 

The “kingdom of bling” has created a society possessed by the spirit of consumerism. The average American spends more than they earn.·    

• Americans average a balance of $9,200 on their credit cards and pay $1300 interest per year on the balance.
• Since 2005, Americans spend $1.22 for every dollar earned.
• Bankruptcy filings this year have increased 37% over 2006.
• 25-34 year olds have the second highest rate of bankruptcy.
• 56-65 year olds carry an average of $40,000 debt beyond their mortgages.
• CHRISTIANS WILL SPEND MORE ON OURSELVES THIS CHRISTMAS THAN WE GIVE TO THE LORD!

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Perhaps you have been reading about the IRS investigating some of the largest mega ministries about the misuse of offerings for tax exempt status. Each of us as Jesus followers are responsible for asking the hard questions about the investments that the local church is making with God’s money for the priorities of the Kingdom of God. Michael Frost in his book Exiles makes the critical point that we need to research where our money is going and in what ways it is contributing to meeting the needs of the poor and the extension of God’s kingdom.

Contributing a tithe to a local church that is going to spend it on well-appointed buildings and self-focused programs might not be the most faithful or effective use of a gift. As Tom Sine says “Let’s quit kidding ourselves. We even tithe to ourselves. Everything we put into our churches, we take back. We are not, as Bonhoffer said ‘the church for others,’ we are the church for ourselves.” The church must continually minimize brick and mortar and maximize the mission of Jesus to the poor, broken and lost. The tithe does not belong to the church.
The tithe is the Lord’s!

Well, I finally did it. For the past six years, my doctor and medical friends in the church have been encouraging me to have a colonoscopy. I don’t know why I have procrastinated for so long since I am committed to health through nutritious diet and exercise. It is just the whole idea of this procedure seemed so invasive and potentially painful. For those of you who might be avoiding one for similar reasons, let me say that it was a painless process, and I don’t remember any of it just as my friends promised.

 
Our bodies are not our own. They house the very presence of God. The Spirit carries out the mission of Jesus through our hands and feet. Diet, exercise and routine physical exams are fundamental commitments that we need to practice to stay in the game. Former President Jimmy Carter was traveling through dangerous areas in Darfur two weeks ago with Bishop Tutu aggressively advocating on behalf of the black Africans who are suffering at the hands of the Arab majority. This was right after his 83rd birthday!
 
A man saw me straining through a workout this morning at the gym and asked me if I were having fun. To tell you the truth, it is not about having fun. I want to be working in places like Darfur when I am 83. (Check out Rob Dauber on video and how he is training himself to have momentum for life. Learn more about the self-leadership and discipline needed for life-long momentum in the book Momentum for Life.)

The devastating fires in Southern California during the past week have affected almost 1 million people. Many folks will not recover much of what has been destroyed during their lifetime. The states in the southeastern part of the country are suffering through a drought of historic proportions. Some lakes in North Carolina and Georgia are in danger of drying up. Lake Lanier, the main source of water for the Atlanta area, could be dry in three months. One town in Georgia has already run out of water and is having water trucked in from Florida. The drought is having a national impact due to the loss of agriculture.

This is an eerily accurate reality of an editorial “prophesy” that I read in The Sudan Vision (Islamic Newspaper) when I was in Khartoum in June. The editorialist began with the indictment, “Almighty God, however, shall put an end to American arrogance and unfair actions.” He goes on to accurately cite drought conditions across our country and the dwindling water supplies. “In eight states lakes are shrinking, crops are withering, well levels are falling.” How these words ring true to me personally. The well in our North Carolina home is no longer adequate, and we have to drill down to 1100 feet. He ends his scathing rant with, “President Bush, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Thomas Jefferson said, ‘I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.’”

The Arab voice in Sudan carries little moral authority in light of the atrocities being committed by the Sudanese government against the black Africans in Darfur.