ICS Daily Devotions
Beware of Christian Consumerism
It is easy to get caught up with what is in it for me in life and in church. However, as mature believers, we should be cautious against Christian consumerism, and instead ask ourselves what we can fulfil regarding what God has entrusted to us as believers and as a church.
Luke 4:40-43 (NKJV) When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ. Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.”
Because the crowd had been greatly blessed by the ministry of Jesus, they had personalised the ministry of Jesus. Never had they seen such a loving, compassionate, and impartial person who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. Jesus’ popularity surged when they witnessed His miraculous works, and hearing the demons say, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” must have been the peak of their excitement. However, it is human tendency to keep what is good to ourselves and never seem to have enough of everything that is good. Therefore, the crowd tried to keep Jesus from leaving them because they had developed a consumer mentality that their own needs had yet to be met.
Likewise, we have been blessed because we have responded to the good news of the Gospel; we are saved and have a wonderful relationship with God. Because we will have many needs in our lives that require Jesus’ attention, if we are not careful, we might be preoccupied with our need of Him and develop a consumer mentality because we want God to answer all our prayers and meet all our needs.
But Jesus is different from many people who like to bask in the limelight and enjoy the attention of crowd. He was not looking for the popularity vote, but had a very different agenda that saw beyond the physical needs of the people, because He wanted the people to be saved and come into the Kingdom of God.
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