|
We pay good money for light.... I spent the majority of my day today attending to the needs of my ever growing yard. I mow it...it rains...it grows...I mow, and so on and so forth. At any rate, today was somewhat special. Recently after our last bout with the unrelenting rain and wind, my beautiful yard accent lighting had begun, to one after the other, fail. So, I thought to myself after professionally coifing my yard, "why not top off this proverbial ice cream sundae of grass by dropping the cherry on top with the purchase of some new light bulbs for the accent lighting. As I drove my family sedan to the local Home Depot, I began to think about possibility of adding an additional light to counter-balance my already existing lights on the otherside of the garage. I arrived at the Home Depot, made a b-line for the yard light aisle and was promptly met by the ever helpful store associate. "What can I help you find today", he said. "Well I need to find some replacement bulbs for my yard lights". He shook his head and sulked at my response. I thought it was a simple enough request, however his response troubled me. After a few questions on the type of lights that I had, he pointed me to the shelf with the correct bulbs. I WAS SHOCKED...These bulbs must have been made from diamonds or something. When it was all said and done I had 6 bulbs for the grand total of$29.97. Needless to say I totally forgot about the adding another fixture thing...that was even more! It got me thinking, light is a valuable commodity. Its not just bulbs, its the electricity we pay for monthly for the bulbs to work. On average, I spend around $200.00 a month. That is $2400.00 per year that I pay for the commodity of light (not to mention the 30.00 bulbs). Okay so I know you saw it coming, but I am about to make a Biblical parallel. The Bible says we are the light of the world. Now obviously we are speaking on a non-electrical level, but I think the metaphor fits. Do we as a culture (church culture) exploit what we have (Jesus) in order to make a buck? Now I am not talking about tithing, that is about being faithful and has little to do with money and more to do with obedience. I am talking about the commercialization of Christ. Would Jesus himself endorse the wwjd bracelet? Would our Lord really care about the "christian" music industry? The Jesus I serve turned over tables in the temple when he saw people taking advantage of other people's faithfulness by selling them over-priced sacrificial animals. He was mad. He was not meek, he was angry and on some levels enraged that the "people of God" would use the name of God to exploit others. Now I don't know if I was exploited today with my bulb purchase or if I was just a sucker. However it is, I figure God used that $29.97 to gently remind me of the great responsibility I have to give out the light that I have. Its not something to exploit but rather to make available to anyone who may need it. Oh well, back to the yard...
 |
