Lately, the Lord has been teaching me much about giving versus taking. He has reminded me that it is not the “church” that has become consumerized (interested in taking/getting). It is me. I am a consumer, but I like to blame the church because if I blame someone or something else, I come out clean. Therefore, I would like to take an interesting look at a parable that Jesus told. Although the parable’s purpose does not deal with consumerism, there are elements, characteristics of my consumer attitude that are there that I had never noticed until recently. This parable is the one about the compassionate father (some have called it “the two sons” and others “the prodigal son”). As I was thinking about this parable a while back, I found myself identifying with the prodigal son in ways that I had never before.
Luke 15:11-20
The Attitude of the Consumer: “Give me”
12 The younger one said to his father, `Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
LK 15:13 "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
The younger son was only interested in receiving. He wanted what was rightfully his, his inheritance from his father. He wanted to live the way he wanted, “wild living.” And he wanted people to feed him. However, after he had squandered what he had been given, he was left empty and hungry.
As I look back on my life, this is what I see many times. I want God to give me what I want. I want a church where I can get fed. I want to live the way I want to live. And when no one is willing to give to me any more, I am left empty and hungry. In other words, my life in this stage focuses primarily on what I can receive. When I have lived my life only seeking what I can get, I wind up in the same place as the younger son…hungry.
The Attitude of the Servant: “Use me.”
LK 15:17 "When he came to his senses, he said, `How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20 So he got up and went to his father.
Notice here the change in the son’s attitude. When he came to his senses, he decides to reconcile himself to his father. One of the ways he is going to do this is by making himself available to be used by his father (“make me like one of your hired men”). When the son left with his inheritance, he was essentially telling himself how worthy he was to get/to receive. However, this time, his attitude changes. His primary focus isn’t to receive from his father. He wants to give…He wants to be used. He is saying to his father, “Use me.”
My attitude, too, must change. I must stop telling God all of the things that He needs to give me. I must stop expecting churches to meet my needs, feed me. However, I must say to God, like Isaiah, “Here I am send me”…Use me…I must say to the church, my wife, my friends, strangers, “let me love you like Christ did and give myself up for you”…Use me.
Wisdom in the Grocery Store
After thinking about this parable, the Lord gave me the picture of a grocery store as an illustration of the attitude that He wants me to have.
When a consumer goes into the grocery store to buy a loaf of bread, he/she buys the loaf that he/she desires to use. You see, I have always seen myself as this consumer; however, I am the loaf of bread. I am the tool that God desires to use to help accomplish the purposes of His Kingdom here on earth. He is the consumer…the user. He desires me to be consumed for His desires.
Therefore, like the prodigal son, I must return to my Father with a changed heart, ready to be used by Him as His servant.
Here I am, Lord, your loaf of bread. What kind of sandwich would you like?
Wednesday, February 04, 2004