The Spoiled Americans

I wish that I could just go see my friends…

I wish that event wasn’t canceled… 

I wish everything would go back to normal…

I wish that the stores had what I wanted… 

“And then I realized how many stupid times a day I use the word “I”. And probably all I ever do is think about myself. And how lame is that when there are, like, seven billion other people out there on the planet.” -The Princess Diaries 

It might seem like a silly movie to quote, and while it is, I still like that quote very much because it can be true about all of us.

If this pandemic is showing America and other first world countries one thing, it is that we are spoiled. 

Can you believe that we are over here complaining about not being able to go get ice coffee for a few months when there are people who struggle to just find drinking water every single day? 

 

I read an article today by The Balance titled The America Middle Class is Among the Richest in the World.

The article talked about why our middle class believes they are middle class when we are actually rich:

“Another reason for the middle-class en huit is the rise of mass media combined with an entitlement culture. Americans now demand more. They believe they are entitled to more. And, honestly, provided it is done in a way that doesn’t destroy the greatest wealth building system in global history, I think that’s a good thing. That is the reason life keeps getting better and better. We should all want to someday get to a point where everybody can afford Elysium-style medical intervention. This entitlement is why we don’t think anything of it when every grocery store we visit is air-conditioned or nearly everyone we know is carrying what amounts to a supercomputer around in his or her pocket.

The problem? There is a lot of evidence from behavioral economics that indicates people measure their success and affluence relative to what they see. A generation ago, you didn’t experience much beyond your own world. Now, someone earning a middle-class income can witness an endless parade of others their same age earning $10,000 a month, $50,000 a month, or $1,000,000 a month, splashed across hundreds of cable channels and innumerable internet sites as they sit at home in their pajamas.”

 

Isn’t that terrible?

It’s like an endless cycle of greed, vanity, selfishness, and misery.

“For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,  unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,”-2 Timothy 3:2-4

We don’t have to be part of this spoiled and entitled cycle though.

Combat… 

• Selfishness with outrospection (Philippians 2:4).
• Ungratefulness with thankfulness (Psalm 136:1). 
• Greed with generosity (2 Corinthians 9:6-8). 

We have so much to be thankful for. 

“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”-1 Thessalonians 5:18

Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and gave us the gift of eternal life if we obey Him and His word (John 3:16, Mark 16:16). That’s something to be grateful for not only every day but every second.

Starting today, let’s work on not only being grateful but realizing how blessed we are to be capable of helping others with greater needs than our own.

“But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”-1 John 3:17

What are your thoughts?
How are some ways you can work on changing from spoiled to grateful in this time?

Random Thoughts + Two Things To Keep in Mind

Hey all.

I’m not sure what to write for today, I guess this post is just me reaching out in the only way I really can right now: virtually.

How have y’all been holding up? 

Social distancing has made me doubt myself as an introvert because I am straight up not having a good time and I miss being around people without everyone being super cautious and withdrawn. When I said I needed alone time, I meant that I needed one day out of the week with no plans, not the other way around.

feat. me trying to stay calm and not panic although everyone is now panicking

Also, so many things are being canceled, but God’s love for us won’t be canceled, and we have no more excuses now to not spend time in His word, so that’s a positive.

My mom and I were talking about the outcome of social isolation in terms of technology.

Either, people are going to become even more dependant + addicted to social media, or they’re going to realize the need for real human interaction and relationships.

I truly hope it’s the later for the world, but if you’re reading this, remember to build relationships in real life.

The two things that I have been trying to keep in mind during these uncertain times that have helped me are: 

 

• How blessed we are to have a Creator who sent His Son to die for us and to want a relationship with us 

 ^“O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth forever.”-1 Chronicles 16:34

“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” -1 John 3:1

• That we need to look outside ourselves 

“With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;” –Ephesians 4:2

It’s so easy to be selfish in times like this and not take a second to see the full picture.
We need to stop focusing on ourselves and our needs and start focusing on others and their needs, especially in uncertain moments in life like these.

“This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”-John 15:12

Be a listener, send a message or letter of encouragement to someone, be there for others despite the fear going around at the moment.  

Let’s take these next few slowed down weeks as a time to work on becoming better.

Let’s work on stopping our lives from being about ourselves and start focusing on God, His Word, and others.

What are you learning/working on?

 

An Epidemic of Closed Church Buildings

Many things have kept people from going to worship: bitterness, distance, laziness, ignorance, etc. and now we can add another one: COVID-19. 

I am not on Facebook, but my mom is, and the number of screenshots that she has sent me of big denominational church buildings closing and going to online for the next few weeks because of the virus, is sad but not surprising.

My mom then sent me this screenshot of a congregation’s statement on this matter:

A few posts back, I wrote about the importance of going to worship, and that hasn’t changed.

I’m social distancing myself from a lot of things currently (most of them not by choice but by the events being canceled already), but I’m never going to distance myself from being fed the Word and being around my brothers and sisters in Christ to worship God and remember His death and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

The fact that people are going to skip worship tomorrow but still go to work, to the grocery store, etc. is illogical.

How can we claim that we would still meet together if we were under persecution by the government and yet stay home because of a virus? 

Being elderly, sick, or susceptible to sickness is one thing when it comes to not attending right now, but for the rest of us, we have no excuse. 

Fear should not keep us from the Bible and the gathering of the saints.

^“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”-Hebrews 10:25

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”-2 Timothy 1:7

 

Stay healthy, but most importantly, stay faithful and worship like new testament Christians tomorrow,