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Issue link: http://magazine.kcm.org/i/226410
Take Your Place at the Father’s Table by Dennis Burke I’ve only heard it once. In all my years of traveling and talking with Christians all over the world, only one person has ever said these words to me. “Dennis, I wouldn’t change one thing about my life.” The statement carried no sense of complacency. No careless surrender to the status quo. Instead, it sparkled with contentment, bubbling up like a spring from a man who was living life the way it’s meant to be lived. Such springs are all too rare these days. People everywhere are parched—thirsty for something more. Hungry for fulfillment they can’t seem to find. Most of us try, though. You have to give us credit for that. We gnaw away at life like a dog at a bone—with determination, gusto and frequently with frustration. Working it from every angle, we labor to extract from our existence the satisfaction we crave. Yet, more often than not, we still feel like we’re lacking something. Stomach growling, we always want more. It’s not a new phenomenon. It can’t be blamed on Generation X, Y or Z. It wasn’t introduced by today’s consumer culture; by cashiers at drive-thru windows saying, “Would you like to supersize that?”; or by The Shopping Network. No, the dilemma of perpetual dissatisfaction has been around as long as people can remember. A few decades ago, it even caught the attention of the press. Hoping to shed some light on the situation, a news magazine surveyed thousands of Americans to find out just how much money they needed to be satisfied. “What would it take for you to live the American dream?” they were asked. After averaging the answers, the magazine reported these results: People making $25,000 a year thought $54,000 would be enough. Those making $100,000 said $192,000 would satisfy them. And so on. Eventually, John D. Rockefeller, one of the richest men in the world at the time, weighed in on the issue. When asked how much money it takes to be truly rich, he gave a classic, unforgettable answer. “Just a little more,” he said. Marketing experts make millions by exploiting that mentality. They start by targeting toddlers with toy-laden cereal boxes. Stacking them knee-high on grocery store shelves where little eyes can see and little hands can reach, they provoke the familiar cry: “Mommy, I want it!” So it begins...and so it continues—from childhood to adolescence, to adulthood, to the grave. Always wanting more, never having enough. Playing the ‘Keeping-Up’ Game As Christians, we’re not shocked when we see unbelievers trapped in such a cycle. Why shouldn’t they be? The only system they know enshrines materialism as a god. But things should be different in the church, don’t you think? Surely, we believers shouldn’t be running here and there, seeking the same stuff everyone else does. Surely, we don’t have to be driven by the same insatiable disease. Yet, all too often we are. 24 : BVOV : JAN '14