Dear Trekker,
The other morning I ran across the following quote. Oh, how it caught my attention as we enter a new calendar year: “Today you see many people who already have great possessions still laboring day-by-day to add one field to another with greed that knows no bounds. And you see those who have houses worthy of a king, nevertheless adding house to house to every day. And do we not see people in high positions striving mightily for still higher positions? There is no end to it all because the highest and best is not to be found in any of these things. If a person cannot be at peace until he has the highest and best, is it surprising that he is not content with inferior and worse things? It is folly and extreme madness always to be longing for things that cannot only never satisfy but cannot even blunt the appetite. However much you have of such things you still desire what you have not yet attained. You are always restlessly sighing after what’s missing. The wicked therefore walk round in their circle, naturally wanting what will satisfy their wants, and foolishly thrusting away the means of attaining it – that is, of attaining not consumption but consummation (italics mine). Thus, they wear themselves out with pointless effort and do not reach the end of happy fulfillment. They delight in the beauty of the creature rather than that of the creator. They lust for each and every experience more than they desire to come to the “Lord of all!”
Sounds like a valid commentary on contemporary society, does it not? Yet, it was written a thousand years ago by Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) in his treatise, “On Loving God”. (A fellow trekker gave me a fantastic book a few years ago, “Voices of the Saints”, by Bert Ghezzi, Doubleday, 2000.) In the age of knighthood and crusades, Bernard was a soldier for Christ. He also penned these words: “Jesus is honey in our mouth, light in our eyes, a flame in our heart. This name is the cure for all diseases of the soul. If the name of Jesus reaches the depths of our heart, it leaves heavenly virtue there.”
Bernard’s phrase above, “not consumption but consummation”, really resonates with me. You probably are thinking what I am thinking too… how little life changes over the centuries of time. Romans, the great philosophical treatise of the Apostle Paul, comes quickly into my mind. Ch.1, v. 21 is poignant and describes, sadly, every generation. “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
When we consume ad infinitum and are never satisfied, we surely confirm our fallen nature as in no other way. We were not created to consume without consummation. We were created to consume, yes, but afterward, to glorify the God who created and gives to us… “for God so loved the world that He gave us” good things, good gifts, and no greater gift is there than Himself, Jesus, the core of our emancipated being. And we in turn are to give Him thanks. When our consumption does not deter but aids in the process of returning to Jesus, our creator and Savior, then we are on the way to realizing consummation.
A fellow trekker, Chuck Colson, recently quoted another brother, very appropriately: “Measuring our economy based on what we buy is flawed and here’s why: It doesn’t get to the core of what really makes us human.” Being created in the image of God, the Imago Dei, makes us uniquely human, separates us from all other creation, and explains why a major function in life is to steward and co-create with God in His amazing world.
What more can we buy that will bring that rare satisfaction in life known as consummation? Nothing! We are made to be receivers of God’s goodness. (This grace was “bought” one time by Christ on the cross.) St. Paul puts it in perspective to the Corinthians: “For we are God’s fellow workers, you are God’s field, God’s building.” Consummation takes place when we are “settled and satisfied” in Christ, taking up our position in the Body of Christ, and giving Him the glory and the thanks for the increase! Life is always pulsating, ever new, always generating yet additional life! So we do eat, live, and are merry (too), for tomorrow we will never die.
Production (or better, re-production, as all production originates with God) is the clarion call to the trekker! It is better to give (production) than to receive (consumption)! Fulfillment, also another word for consummation, comes when we realize, “one plants, one waters, but God gives the increase.”
Human life at its best is far more than the struggle for the planet’s resources. It is far more than class warfare between the “haves and have nots”. To buy into this dialogue is to give credence to the myth. Life is not what we clamor about and buy on Black Fridays. We don’t spend or consume ourselves to prosperity. Prosperity is a consummation form, which only occurs when we view and live life holistically, as God created it to be. We are entitled to nothing but “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” And all legitimate human aspirations begin and end with a foundation in Jesus Christ… the Way, the Truth, and the Life. When we find Him and He becomes honey in our mouth, we have found eternal food for our souls.
Trekker, what does 2012 bring? For sure, it brings Jesus Christ, the sure foundation, the cornerstone. It occurred on Good Friday two thousand years ago. All other things considered for which we pander all year long, without relationship to Jesus, are simply over lengthening shadows of “Black Friday”. Trekker, let’s buck the mold and recreate in 2012. Let’s be consumed in and with the Life Giver,
Jesus Christ. Only He is worthy.
Your fellow trekker,
Jim Meredith
