120819 Eat Carrots

Take a couple of minutes and respond to the following questions...

1.What do you think are the top five things people worry about?

2.What do you think are the top ways people handle their worry?

3.On a scale of 1-5, how much worry (or stress) are you living with right now?

4.On a scale of 1-5, how stressed out do you feel?

5.What do you worry about most right now?

6.On a scale of 1-5, how close do you feel to your deepest friends?

7.How do you maintain closeness in your deepest friendships?

8.On a scale of 1-5, how close do you feel to God in this season of your life?  Why?

Now take another moment and read what Jesus had to say about the above: Matthew 6:19-34 (New Living Translation)

I remember going to church camp during my high school years.  I'm pretty proud of that.  But even more astounding than simply remembering something from 25 years ago is a campfire song we used to sing that referred to what Jesus said in the above passage.  "Seek first the Kingdom of God" stuck with me.  It's a lovely idea.  I wonder what it means?

Of course, it we look at the context of what Jesus said we see that he was giving a long talk - one of his most famous - about what it means to live the way God wants a person to live.  He contrasted the Kingdom life with the general public, and wasn't too shy about taking shots at the religious leaders of his day, who infamously missed the mark.  Be a good, loving, forgiving, faithful, humble person, basically.

Is that it?  Is that what it means to seek first the Kingdom of God?  Perhaps there is more.

In the aforementioned text, Jesus made a weird comment about eyes and light.  The consensus among the scientific world of Jesus' day held that our eyes didn't simply receive light  like a camera lens, but that our eyes actually projected light out into the world, intermingling with the light of the sun so that we could see where we are going.  Sort of like flashlights, I suppose.  So when Jesus talks about light and darkness, he is talking about paying attention to our vision.  His words are actually pretty strong, saying that if our light is actually darkness, we are living in a very deep darkness.  He is talking about how we see the world, and what our vision does to alter our perception of reality and ultimately the Kingdom around us.

I am a fan of popcorn.  My family uses one of the Stir-Crazy beauties that hit the shelves in the early 1980's.  We use some pretty high-grade olive oil, and dash some sea salt on mountain of freshly popped corn in the bowl while the steam is still rising.  Can you smell it?  It's really good.  But we're not sharing, so you're out of luck.

Studies have been done regarding people's popcorn eating habits.  You've probably heard of some of them.  Decades ago, movie theater managers were trying to increase their revenue from concessions, and they tried to get people to go for a 2-for-1 deal on bags of popcorn for a special price.  But they didn't sell very well.  They researched it, and found out that people didn't want to appear to be pigs, eating two bags of popcorn, so they wouldn't buy it.  And then was born the popcorn tub that people could "share."  My wife knows very well what "sharing" in this context means...

Tubs of popcorn sold like crazy, even though they were getting the same amount they would have (or more) had they opted for two bags.  The bottom line was going up and to the right.  The world was good for the theaters, as the patrons pigged out on their popcorn.

Within a decade or so, for a variety of reasons, people began to care less and less about appearing piggish, which opened the door for new opportunities in the food industry.  Movie theaters made bigger tubs of popcorn.  Drink sizes were increased dramatically.  Remember when fast food medium drinks were what smalls are today?  Meal deals emerged, largely to get people to buy soda drinks, where the profit margin was huge.  Americans know a good deal when we see one, and so we went for it in large numbers.

Portion sizes also changed dramatically in the 1980's forward.  Bigger plates with bigger values meant bigger turnouts at restaurants.  Several studies have been done showing that people eat more if the plate is larger, compared to being served food on smaller plates with the level of satiety.  Popcorn is no exception.  Bigger tubs of corn simply translate into people eating more popcorn.  There was even a study done where people were served huge tubs of stale popcorn as they watched a movie at a theater.  Surely people would not eat stale popcorn, right?  In fact, they ate plenty.

These largely market-driven changed have, of course, has resulted in poorer health for more and more people in our country.

No problem.  We'll just exercise more.

Nope.

Okay, we'll announce that a person only need exercise for 30 minutes a day to see significant improvement in health.  Easy!

Nope.

Fine, we'll announce that a study shows that a person doesn't even need to do all 30 minutes at once to see benefits - 5 minutes here, 10 there, and eventually we make 30.  Really easy!

Nope.

It turns out that, on the whole, we enjoy increasing portions and value, are comfortable with the ill-affects on our health (for now, at least), and are not terribly motivated to do much about it in the way of portion control or exercise.  Even though it means that a record number of people are or are at risk of becoming diabetic, which will likely shorten one's length of life and very probably decrease quality of life until the end.  Oh, and the annual costs of treatment will be in the hundreds of billions of dollars, which means healthcare premiums are going to rise right along with the size of our fountain drinks.  By the way, this trend in no way reflects the Way of the Kingdom - it may be American, but it ain't Christian.

I rant for a reason: this tells us something about human tendencies.  About you.  About me.  We are prone to get tossed around by the prevailing cultural currents that may not be driven by our best interests or the interests of the human race in general.  Even with plenty of data, studies, news briefs, magazine articles and blogs shouting to the masses that there is a serious problem, we turn a deaf ear and blind eye.  

Even though our lives are at stake.

If we struggle to pay attention to the constant health alerts that have been bombarding us for decades now, how much more will we struggle seeking first the Kingdom of God when it only hits our radar every so often?

I don't think many people will experience better health until they take the alerts seriously and make a daily effort to improve their health.  And I am certain the same is true when it comes to experiencing the life Jesus offers.  We won't do it because we won't see it.  We get caught into the groove of the market's waves and we can't get out.  Worse, we may think everything looks fine or "not that bad", which means we're living in greater darkness than we think.

Seeking the Kingdom first is a vision thing.  It is a decision to pay attention even though there is little cultural support for its pursuit, discussion, or implementation.  Seeking the Kingdom first doesn't mean neglecting everything else, thinking that God is going to pull off the manna from heaven trick again; it does mean, however, that we are consciously, intentionally, mindfully, and humbly choosing to walk daily with God.  Its a decision to pay attention to our vision, really.  It's a choice to eat carrots to insure we're getting enough light in.

I think some magical things happen when we seek the Kingdom first.  I think we're much more tuned into God's frequency, much more capable to sense God's vibe, and much more inclined to recognize God's work around us.  I think when we don't intentionally seek God first, we miss out a lot of the time.  As long as we don't seek the Kingdom first, there is a great likelihood that we will do a poor job stewarding our time, talent, and treasure.  We'll see it get eaten up by moth-like endeavors, rusty from being driven hard and put away wet, and broke from using our resources on cheap junk that we'll be replacing soon (or hoarding at the expense of people who just need a meal for the day).  I think when we choose to seek the Kingdom first, we also experience greater peace and calm instead of anxiety, worry, and fear.

How are you doing seeking first the Kingdom of God?  How is it impacting the way you steward the big three areas of your life: your time, your talent, and your treasure?