Material privilege and poor Christianity

A recent commentary in a world-renowned scientific journal got me thinking. A guy wrote in to basically say that faith and religion were only necessary in cultures where there is no material security. It used to be thought that faith was an integral part of all cultures. However, in the past 20 years, a couple materially rich European nations have actually switched to having the majority of their natives subscribe to atheism, a trend unprecedented in history. The argument presented was that when there is not only material blessing but also security in social standing, these two factors would spell the demise of faith in the developed world.

Although that may seem crazy to some, the trend is very real (The US is currently the one anomaly to this trend). So, the question that came to me was: "Why would security in material privilege in a nation cause otherwise believing people to cease believing in God?" I wonder if we have faith to believe for God's blessings, but not for His presence? Or, as aptly put by Jack Taylor, do we seek His presents, or His presence? This is one of the most important questions of life and faith, and must be satisfactorily and convincingly answered for each and every one of us.

Our current history is telling us something dangerous that we have known, but maybe not to the extent that we see today. Past history has shown us over and over that Christians tend to get soft over time in the absence of persecution. I think we have rightly interpreted that to mean comfort, routine, and lack of pressure on our beliefs cause us to get sloppy in our faith and lose focus on what is truly important. With that said, our current history may be telling us the motivation that causes us to get complacent in times of security. To put it bluntly, we are revealing as a body of believers that we have no true desire to know God, but simply to get what He will give us.

What supports that conclusion? Every first-world country that is starting to abandon faith is doing so under the banner of freedom of religion. No one is telling us we can no longer believe in God...we are making that choice once we get all the security we need. While I am sure Jesus has many faithful ones in these nations, and this is not a commentary on all believers, the data tells us the majority of 'believers' are really users and not lovers.

So, I dug this little pit for us so we can do some evaluation. What is the motivation behind our relationship with Jesus? Is it about giving or getting? Is it about loving or making a good living? Is it about intimacy or a getting a favorable settlement? We must choose that narrow road of love, for more reasons than I can list here. He is worth it, we are worth it, and the world around each and every one of us is worth it. Intimacy with God is the only true path to fulfillment and success.

My prayer is that you will give love to the One who first loved us. When we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. May we find and experience the Love that is greater than life itself, so that life itself can be one big act of love. Talk to you soon!