1st Sunday in Lent Matthew 13:22 - Cultured

"We are the culture, my friend," writes the author.  How true.  Like most middle class families, we own two cars. (Both Subarus, the state car of Utah!) We have our own home.  We have several flat screen TV's.  We have 2 smartphones, a tablet, a laptop, and a desktop computer. This blog goes out on the web and is further shared on Facebook. We eat well and have more than enough clothes.  We have gym memberships and season ski passes.  In many ways we are just like many people around us.  How are we any different?

That's a good question, and, given the amount of human need near and far, one I struggle with.  I think first of all, I daily need to receive Christ into the center of my life. Everything else is then shaped by that relationship.  It helps me keep the things of this world in perspective.  They are not the be all and end all.  Given that this is where God has placed me, many of those things go along with living in the modern world, certainly in this country. But they are not what's most important.  If they become so important, if my possessions begin to possess me, then I'm in trouble.  Then I've made gods out of things I own.  Then the cares of the world and the lure of wealth will choke me and cut me off from my relationship with God.

So part of the answer for me is to always cultivate a spirit of generosity.  It is to use and offer what I have for a greater good. Have I figured out the perfect balance of what I keep for myself and what I share with others?  Hardly.  But the very fact I struggle is a good sign, an indication I'm aware of the dangers that come when we embrace the culture at the expense of a right relationship with God.  And how about you?  How to you reconcile living in our modern American culture and all that entails, with how you understand the teachings of Jesus?