It’s been a little while since the
passing of Steve Jobs, and the cultural impact of his work is still being
discussed and lauded. I’ll have to
admit, I’m one of those who think his impact on our modern society has been
about as big as anybody’s. I’m typing
this article from my MacBook, and will send it off using my iPhone. But those two things are just indicative of
something that, whether you loved Jobs’ inventions or not, sure dominates a big
part of our world: The new essentials.
We seem to live in a time where
there are more and more essential things that we need in life. I suppose we’ve always needed a few
essentials in life, no matter the era. But, without knowing what it was really like,
of course, I imagine the list of essentials was smaller in previous times. Food, clothing, ad shelter, seems to have
been pushed aside by a list that now includes: Cars, cell phones, TV’s,
computers, not to mention a whole list of non-electronic “essentials”.
And there’s the rub. We see so many things as essential in our
life today. Be it a vacation, or sports
tickets, or the latest iGadget, most of us have become accustomed to seeing
what should probably be considered luxuries as essentials. We can’t work without the internet, and
everything hooked up to it. We can’t
relax without getting far out of town, and all the toys we need to bring with
us. That’s one of the things that has
been so hard about this economic downturn over the last several years. We’ve all had to cut back, we’ve all had to
do with less. But, if we’re being
honest, it’s been harder because we’ve really felt like we’ve had to cut back
on the thing we need, not just the things we want.
So, debating the merits of seeing
“wants” as “needs” is probably an idea for another day. But what really got me thinking was, in a
time where our list of essentials has grown and grown, I wonder if we’ve decide
to lose one thing off that list – Jesus.
One of the things meant to mark Christians in a positive way, was that
we are to live life everyday with Jesus.
That not a day should go by where we don’t acknowledge our full
dependence on Him. Again, this may be
different than how Christians are often seen and known, but I wish that would
change back to this. If you’re a Jesus
follower, what’s on your list of essentials to make it through the day? And would anybody around you be able to guess
that Jesus is on that list? If not,
maybe it’s time to make a change, for the better.
Don’t go to church, Be the Church
Bill Walles
