James 4:2-3 ESV “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”

This week, I’m thinking about things like shoestring budgets, making do, and showboating.

I’m not sure about the rest of the world, but here in the United States, it’s like this. If you look under the hood of our budgetary car for a second, it’s like … well here’s the problem. There’s all that money you are spending to perpetuate the vicious cycle of exploitation that is the sex industry. Then, there’s all that time and energy we are spending to 1) be like the Joneses while 2) hiding the fact that a major motivation for the things we do is trying to keep up with the Joneses. (Spoiler alert: everyone knows.)

Just saying. If we funneled that kind of energy toward solving global hunger, we might not solve the issue in a second, but we could do a lot of infrastructure work. And – we might even have some fun doing it.

Stranger things have happened.

Using other human beings for selfish reasons is wrong. It is short-sighted, destructive, and wrong. (In case no one has mentioned this before. I feel like someone has said it before.)

Remove the air from the room, and the fire would go out. It might hurt. But maybe we could all start to have serious conversations about a future that would work for everyone. Or, we can keep throwing distractions out there and keep people entertained while Rome burns. Because, that has worked so well for us in the past.

Yeah, this is what happens when I pray to God for the salvation of the world. I start channeling Jeremiah again. Come on, human race. Do we even want to live for the next hundred years, let alone forever?

I know we want to live. Deep down.

To all the people of good will wondering if any of what we are doing even matters, I offer a cute animal picture.