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America is Destroying
Herself through Her Own Selfishness
I
must admit the fact that I love the holiday season. I get excited
every year when, after Thanksgiving, everyone begins to get in
a “holiday mood.” It seems, for me, that things begin
to wind down, at least a little, through the month of December.
Then, during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day,
things slip into a lazy crawl, as people tend to continue celebrating
with their families. I also enjoy all of the lights, sights, and
sounds of the holiday season.
I
am well aware of the fact that much of this celebration is not
over the birth of Jesus Christ. I realize that the commercialism
of the Christmas season is truly shameless. I do understand the
fact that the holiday atmosphere is largely promoted by the retail
businesses who are looking to make the “big bucks.”
I also realize, of course, that much of the Christmas decorating
and “party spirit” is not so much because people have
a desire to worship Christ, as it is that they simply like to
party. However, the apostle Paul made a very interesting observation
in the Book of Philippians, “Some indeed preach Christ even
of envy and strife; and some also of good will: The one preach
Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction
to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for
the defense of the gospel. What then? notwithstanding, every way,
whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein
do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.” (Philippians 1:15-18)
In other words, Paul is trying to say, “Even if people are
not sincere in their promotion of Christ, at least Christ is being
promoted, and in that, I rejoice.” That’s the way I
feel about the hoopla of Christmas. At least the name of Christ
is heard every time someone says “Merry Christmas.”
For these reasons, I don’t worry too much about all of the
superficial elements surrounding the season… that is, except
for one thing. The one thing that scares me more every year is
our selfishness over our material possessions and our time.
First
of all, Christmas tends to expose our selfishness with our possessions.
Let’s face it. America is one of the most materialistic societies
that has ever existed on earth. We have more than any nation of
people who has ever lived. Yet we continue to want more and more
in the way of material wealth. However, the materialism is only
a symptom of a worse problem. The fact is: America is one of the
most selfish societies that has ever lived on earth. I have become
convinced that the very reason that the majority of Americans
really love Christmas is that it gives them an excuse to spend
money on each other, and especially on themselves, to get exactly
the things, that is, the material possessions, that they really
crave. To own material possessions is not a sin. The Bible does
not say that “money” is the root of all evil. On the
other hand, it says the “love of money” is the root
of all evil. The problem is not that we own material possessions.
The problem is that we allow material possessions to own us. We
get to the point that we are not happy without them. This should
be a strong warning to us that we are an incredibly selfish people.
Secondly,
Christmas demonstrates our selfishness with time. Americans live
a lifestyle that is designed so that “I will please myself
and make me happy for my own sake.” Such a lifestyle for
us is completely normal. We don’t think about the possibility
that we might live a type of life in which we yield much if not
most of our time to voluntary service, or to service for Lord
Jesus Christ, or even for service to our families or even our
children. Our time is very important to us. We need our time to
be able to pursue our jobs, to pursue our careers, to pursue our
pleasures, to pursue our hobbies, to have our time of rest, of
relaxation, of recreation. We tend to get extremely protective
of our time. You can ask me if you can borrow something, no problem
with that. You can even ask me for a donation. You can ask for
money, but don’t you dare ask me for my time. My time is
valuable. You might say, “What’s wrong with all that?
Isn’t it good to take time for yourself? Isn’t it good
to prioritize your time and spend your time wisely?” Sure
it is. It is good that we are willing to use our time well and
take care of ourselves in our use of time. However, we have moved
into a society where we are so jealous, and so vicious, and so
selfish with our time, that many of us won’t dare volunteer
our time to do something nice or charitable for someone else this
Christmas. It will be all that some of us can do to force ourselves
to even spend time with our families over Christmas. Again, our
selfishness rears its ugly head.
What
you are about to read now is very similar to statements I have
made in the past. However, a friend recently shared some new information
that shook me up, and I cannot refrain from once more sharing
this sad information. America has dropped below a zero percentage
birth rate. There are literally more people that are dying in
America than there are being born. However, the major reason for
this is the fact that this country performs millions of abortions
every year. We literally are not producing enough babies to replace
those who are older and dying. Why is this happening? It is because
Americans are so selfish they would rather abort their babies,
than take the responsibility to let the live, and have them and
raise them. America is slowly dying. Unless we have a spiritual
awakening, and repent of our awful sin of selfishness, we may
cease to exist as a nation within the next half century. “Where
there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the
law, happy is he.” (Proverbs 29:18)
James Sanders
Pastor,
sandersjc@yahoo.com
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