Wrapped Up

A few weeks ago, we had a guest speaker from Brazil at our church.  He spoke a lot about Americans, and how we need to basically stop being so lazy and comfortable, and start going out and preaching the word and loving others.  To be 100%, totally honest, I became a little bit defensive, because my first thought was that he was making generalizations.  He has no idea what I do or don't do to serve others once I leave the church on Sunday mornings.

And then on Friday I saw this picture on Facebook:

My first reaction to this was to be absolutely furious.  I'm not kidding.  It's why I couldn't concentrate during my final on Friday morning, and why I spent most of my day researching the Chick-fil-A controversy.  And it still makes me a little furious, for the following reasons:
1. The two situations: a country-wide social rally, and serving others (something that the Bible tells us to keep quiet and modest about anyway) are not exactly comparable.
2. All the people lined up in the picture aren't necessarily Christians.  For example, they might just be supporting an excellent company, or Dan Cathy's freedom of speech.
3. The Bible does say things that line up with Dan Cathy's stance (even though there are arguments over interpretation).  It's what some of us believe, and due to freedom of religion, we are allowed to believe that.
4. It is extremely judgmental.  The person who wrote this has no idea what I do or don't do to serve and love people during my spare time.  And by the way?  I wasn't one of those people lined up at Chick-fil-A on Wednesday.

Those are the main four reasons  the picture made me so livid.  However, after thinking about it all weekend, I realized there was a fifth reason that the picture made me angry.  It was the same reason our guest speaker at church made me a little uncomfortable a few Sundays ago.  And that is the fact that, despite the hateful presentation and horrible logic in that picture, it's a little bit right. I do get wrapped up in my cushy American life.  I do get totally wrapped up in my own life and problems.

For example, this weekend has been a hard one for me in the area of contentment.  I haven't let myself feel God's peace, and kept focusing on the things that I don't have.  And I was so wrapped up in that, I couldn't even enjoy myself yesterday at church, or last night at our church picnic...much less look to those around me and see where I could serve or love others.

Also, I'm so consumed with worry about all the details of school,  I can't seem to see past that huge hurdle, much less look to the places where I could be serving and loving.

That guest pastor made some generalizations about the American culture when he spoke to my congregation.  And I'm finally realizing it made me uncomfortable because while it did sound judgmental, he totally had me pegged.

Thank goodness for God's grace.  I think Satan uses our American culture and lifestyle a lot more than we realize to blind us to God's will.  Because even the very poor among us are a lot richer than many other parts of the world.