Extravagance

Have you ever read Lincoln's second inaugural address?


It is actually not that easy to read.


Lincoln, and many public speakers of his time, spoke in complex sentence structures. Various phrases, interwoven between each other, form deep and complicated thoughts. When written down, some of their sentences were a paragraph long. For our modern, short attention spans, it makes reading his words more difficult.


This is interesting, given that both Lincoln, and the vast majority of his audience, had what we would consider today as a very basic level of formal education.


But here's why it worked: our brains are trained by what we see and hear every day. And since much of Lincoln's audience was technically illiterate, they were used to taking in most information by listening. Though today we have a higher average level of formal education, the citizens of Lincoln's time were more adept at listening to complex thoughts in speech than we are...because they were surrounded by it, and their brains had been trained to think that way.


I have come to believe that one of the ways OUR brains are being trained every day is actually a significant barrier to hearing the Gospel.


Living in a consumer-driven market, we are surrounded by the message that we DON'T have enough. Sometimes, the commercials for various products come right out and say it; but often, it is simply the underlying assumption behind a market driven by consumption. I don't have enough. My life would be better if I bought that new thing...and soon, that new thing won't be enough either, because something newer and better will come out. The most effective marketing phrase: New and Improved!


On the surface, this seems problematic, but I believe it is deeper than that. Every day, we are saturated with the message that whatever we have, it is not enough. We can always consume more. Feeling satisfied with what we have is simply antithetical to the way our economy thrives.


Simply put:
Our cups are overflowing every single day, yet all we can do sometimes is think this means we need a bigger cup.


You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Psalm 23:5


While Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way?” But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me.” Mark 14:3–4,6


Today, before I am surrounded by any ads to tell me the opposite, I begin in deep gratitude, knowing I have enough. I know I am richly blessed; that God is absolutely extravagant in the gifts poured out on me. It's absurd, actually; like "wasting" ointment on Jesus' head.


But God would tell you this is no waste. God believes I am worth it. You are worth it.


Our cups overflow...Lord, may that grace overflow onto the people we meet today!


We are richly blessed today...Lord, open our eyes to the blessings we don't notice!


We are blessed...to be a blessing. Amen.