It's all relative. Yeah, right...

"Well, God wants to bless us over here too..."
I heard this comment in a conversation with a friend today. I was telling him that I was wrestling with the fact that I have spent a lot of money in the last few months on gear related to the documentary - not withstanding the fact that I have tried to spend as little as I could - shopping around and selecting older proven technology
to get the job done rather than the latest and the greatest at twice the price and that in general I wasn't happy with myself.

"It's all relative..."

Is it?

I know that in theory it's a normal part of the equation to come back and feel a "righteous indignation" with yourself and other people concerning lifestyle and how liberally we spend our money and what we spend it on and whether we need it in the first place... you feel superior - you have been and seen how it "really" is and everyone should change because of the enlightenment you now have. We should become ascetics immediately and give all we have to the poor. The rich young ruler, don't store your treasure on earth - do good and store it up in heaven instead, the good samaritan - these thoughts come to mind. Abandon it all and pursue something else.

But to be honest - today - I really think we should. I say we, of course, because I'm too scared to do it myself and I'd much rather follow someone elses lead...

I do believe that in the west we (Christians) have decided that consumerism is good and really at the end of the day it's pretty difficult to tell the difference between a Christian and someone of another inclination by the way we spend our money. We're as stressed about our mortgages as anyone else, as keen to buy a new gadget as anyone else, as decked out in the "best" brands as anyone else (apologies to the faithful reading this who long ago decided to avoid this for lumping you in with "us")

We dismiss our penchant for new things by saying "Well God wants to bless us too... not just the poor" - but, be honest that's what you're doing.

Despite this I thought I should try to think of a Scripture that suggests that God wants to bless us materially...

and I did think of one...

It reads like this...

"Give us this day our daily bread"

Amen.