Worldly Things
The more accessible things are, the less we stress over them.
Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says, "I am in the light," while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness. I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven on account of his name. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, because you have conquered the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young people, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever. - 1 John 2:7-17
When something is in short supply, the demand is greater. More people seem to need what they cannot easily get, or they think they better stock up, like with toilet paper during the pandemic.
But when there is an abundance, when you can easily find what you want anywhere, there is no hurry. You can go out today or tomorrow or the next day and take just enough for the moment.
We have discovered that with food. When we take our market truck out to the community every day, the people come and take just enough for the day. They don't stock up. They trust that we will come back tomorrow.
Even though they don't have the funds to buy the food for their families, they are not stressed because they know that we will be back.
What we are doing is showing love for our neighbors. The reaction is that the people thank God for us and for the food.
Jesus knew that telling people what they shouldn't do only raises the interest and curiosity in those things. Instead, he told us what we should do, to love one another, and he leaves it up to us to find ways to do that.
He says that we need to stay in the light, and I think that is getting easier to do, because so much of what lies in darkness is being made accessible, just like the daily market.
The internet beings everything into the light, or at least it makes it visible.
So, maybe, familiarity will cause us to get bored and start ignoring the things that used to lure us into the dark.
It is access and abundance that leads us to a better life, then.
We just might be ready to find God.
More to come...