There's a God in my Pocket
On my buck’s day, the boys dressed me up in a contamination suit and we went shopping. We had to find the funniest thing in a bargain store for less than three dollars. For $2.50, there was a little plastic night light with a 10cm tall statute of Jesus on it. He was the most Caucasian-looking Jew I have ever seen, with full robes, a dinner plate behind his head and he was holding out his hands with spots of blood on them. The base had a sticker, ‘Made in China.’
It’s fairly funny in a way, but it’s also quite saddening to think of the idolatry that is associated with the marketing of such an object. All idols are equally pathetically funny and yet terribly sad. For instance, in the book of 1 Samuel:
“5:1 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. 3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. 5 This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.” 1 Samuel 5:1-5 (ESV)
Most of our modern idols, however, aren’t made of wood and stone. We worship less tangible things: family, sex, power, popularity and, above all, the Almighty Dollar.
Materialism infects our culture. Over the holiday break I got hooked into a computer game called “The Sims”. You create your family, build a house and go out and find jobs. Success in the game comes from having the bigger house, the second story, the pool, the promotions, the most expensive artworks hanging on your SimWalls.
In fact, in the game you are occasionally given an option to have a baby. However, when promotion time comes around, there’s no choice. You’re promoted, and sometimes that means more hours and more inconvenient times, but you don’t have a choice!
Scarily similar to our world, isn’t it? Would you ever knock back a promotion because it would impact the time that you might spend with your family? These are the sorts of issues that you might not be facing as university students yet, but you will.
For a lot of us, the reason underlying the very fact that we are at university is the benefit it will give us in making more money in the future. We give up years of our lives, sometimes borrowing tens of thousands dollars from the government, in order to earn a greater income in the future.
What does God have to say?
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Matthew 6:24 (ESV)
Once you graduate, would you be willing to be employed part-time to give more time to serving at your local church? Would you be willing to give up the career of your choice to do MTS and consider full-time ministry. If not, why not? There may be valid reasons for not entering full-time ministry, but in God’s eyes, the love of money is not one of them. I am aware that many of the students who I speak to do in fact say ‘no’ to working on Friday nights and Sundays because of youth group and church responsibilities, which is fantastic.
I’m not saying that money itself is evil. It is a good gift from God to be used for his purposes. And even if you consider yourself to be a ‘poor university student’, remember that you are actually rich by the standards of the global population.
“17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.” 1 Timothy 6:17-19 (ESV)
This week is ECU’s giving week. The money collected in main meetings or at the chaplaincy goes towards:
- Paying ECU administration costs, such as paper on which to print ‘The Page’.
- Supporting the ECU staff-workers.
- Subsidising camps such as Mid-Year Conference for those students who would otherwise not be able to go.
- Supporting our Link Missionaries in Slovenia.
Please do prayerfully consider how you can financially support the ministry of ECU on campus.
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