Disclaimer: I am not trying to sound like an ultra-conservative hermit who never partakes in the ways of the world. Truth is, I enjoy movies and TV shows often, and I'm somewhat active on social media (it's an uphill battle). These days, though, I'm beginning to distinguish the gap between the reality of my life and the surreality behind the life our culture suggests. Ah yes, the power of suggestion. Take a look at any given show out these days, any given movie, any given fictional book. Most of what you'll see (or perhaps fail to see) exhibits a distinct, unmistakably-American common denominator: the expectancy of ideals and fantasy to replace "normal." I'll dub it The 007 Effect...
"Bond...James Bond." I love those movies! Awesome action-to-the-max-tion, gorgeous girls falling all over him at the slightest glance, diabolical masterminds concocting grand schemes to undo society...and Bond always finds a way to come out on top of everything. How can life get any better? Maybe a better question is, how can that be real life?
It may sound obvious, but life isn't that grand. But doesn't it feel like culture expects "grand" of our lives? And when our lives don't match up to these grand expectations, we're left feeling depressed, with the unshakable feeling that our lives are just plain...plain.
"Bond...James Bond." I love those movies! Awesome action-to-the-max-tion, gorgeous girls falling all over him at the slightest glance, diabolical masterminds concocting grand schemes to undo society...and Bond always finds a way to come out on top of everything. How can life get any better? Maybe a better question is, how can that be real life?
It may sound obvious, but life isn't that grand. But doesn't it feel like culture expects "grand" of our lives? And when our lives don't match up to these grand expectations, we're left feeling depressed, with the unshakable feeling that our lives are just plain...plain.
Representations of a "normal" life are endlessly portrayed by our culture and its media expressions as boring, dull, mundane, holding us back. Stuck in our jobs. Stuck in our money problems. Stuck in our relationships. Stuck, stuck, stuck. YUK.
Oftentimes I feel surrounded...nay, asphyxiated...by media and messages, advertisements and marketing ploys telling me I'm not enough. Telling me my life sucks, and I need what they are selling for life to be AWESOME!!! (How ironic - they're trying to better my life by choking me with constant, nagging subliminal messages).
Commercials for energy drinks or vacation getaways that reel off footage of endless adventure and death-defying adrenaline bingeing...skydiving from a WWII bomber, parasailing over the Great Barrier Reef, free-scaling the Rockies at sunset with your guitar so you can sing at the top of your lungs from the top of a mountain, surfing the biggest swells on the Hawaiian shores, crazy sex on the beach of a remote island. I mean, how can you watch a commercial like that while sprawled out on your couch in your pajamas, eating a bag of Funions with a glass of warm milk and think, "Yeah, my life is way more exciting than that." Real life can't compete with that!!! Everything else falls short and just leaves you feeling hopelessly underwhelmed with the direction of your life.
Then there are the drop-dead, half-naked bombshells on 70% of TV ads, appealing to every man's sexual overdrive...and for what? Selling what, can you remember? Probably everything from sports cars to macaroni & cheese. In the end, it's just a ruse the enemy uses to try and convince you your wife isn't good enough...or you're not good enough.
There's nothing real about the marketing ploys set in motion by our culture; they just make us feel like we're missing out on something and that we desperately need that something to feel complete and content. But isn't it strange: it's always tough to nail down, what is that something? They market the extraordinary as ordinary, and we are left to mind the gap.
Maybe the reality is this simple: it's what we do with our ordinary that makes our lives extraordinary. I know when I expect "grand" of my life, my measuring stick is usually based on what the world defines as extraordinary. Financial security, the perfect job, constant adventure and thrill-seeking, perpetual good-hair days and minty-fresh breath. I mean c'mon, that's a broken measuring stick...at least for me.
But when I focus my measuring stick on God's standards - living intentionally about the things that matter to him, loving others, preferring others over myself (which is Romans 12:10, by the way) - I find there is purpose in life. There is suddenly real purpose behind each day. And you know what? It ends up feeling more extraordinary than any of the other fillers I try to inject into my life to instantly bring it fulfillment.
The Kingdom of God operates by way of paradox - nearly everything to do with the Kingdom opposes what culture or human reason would promote. Yes, the Kingdom of Heaven is counter-cultural. And that's such a...relief. Fulfillment is readily available, not at the hands of a super-model, an epic party or a spiffy car, but in enjoying what you've been gifted with right now, in the present. That feels 10-times more exhilarating than any high the media tries to sell. A productive, intentional life investing in the things that matter to God - intimacy between you and Him, and preferring one another in a lifestyle of honor and love. Wow, I would chase that until my hearts drops out of my chest! All that other window dressing? It's not worth the chase. Why? Because it's not normal, and quite honestly, it never will be.
Oftentimes I feel surrounded...nay, asphyxiated...by media and messages, advertisements and marketing ploys telling me I'm not enough. Telling me my life sucks, and I need what they are selling for life to be AWESOME!!! (How ironic - they're trying to better my life by choking me with constant, nagging subliminal messages).
Commercials for energy drinks or vacation getaways that reel off footage of endless adventure and death-defying adrenaline bingeing...skydiving from a WWII bomber, parasailing over the Great Barrier Reef, free-scaling the Rockies at sunset with your guitar so you can sing at the top of your lungs from the top of a mountain, surfing the biggest swells on the Hawaiian shores, crazy sex on the beach of a remote island. I mean, how can you watch a commercial like that while sprawled out on your couch in your pajamas, eating a bag of Funions with a glass of warm milk and think, "Yeah, my life is way more exciting than that." Real life can't compete with that!!! Everything else falls short and just leaves you feeling hopelessly underwhelmed with the direction of your life.
Then there are the drop-dead, half-naked bombshells on 70% of TV ads, appealing to every man's sexual overdrive...and for what? Selling what, can you remember? Probably everything from sports cars to macaroni & cheese. In the end, it's just a ruse the enemy uses to try and convince you your wife isn't good enough...or you're not good enough.
There's nothing real about the marketing ploys set in motion by our culture; they just make us feel like we're missing out on something and that we desperately need that something to feel complete and content. But isn't it strange: it's always tough to nail down, what is that something? They market the extraordinary as ordinary, and we are left to mind the gap.
Maybe the reality is this simple: it's what we do with our ordinary that makes our lives extraordinary. I know when I expect "grand" of my life, my measuring stick is usually based on what the world defines as extraordinary. Financial security, the perfect job, constant adventure and thrill-seeking, perpetual good-hair days and minty-fresh breath. I mean c'mon, that's a broken measuring stick...at least for me.
But when I focus my measuring stick on God's standards - living intentionally about the things that matter to him, loving others, preferring others over myself (which is Romans 12:10, by the way) - I find there is purpose in life. There is suddenly real purpose behind each day. And you know what? It ends up feeling more extraordinary than any of the other fillers I try to inject into my life to instantly bring it fulfillment.
The Kingdom of God operates by way of paradox - nearly everything to do with the Kingdom opposes what culture or human reason would promote. Yes, the Kingdom of Heaven is counter-cultural. And that's such a...relief. Fulfillment is readily available, not at the hands of a super-model, an epic party or a spiffy car, but in enjoying what you've been gifted with right now, in the present. That feels 10-times more exhilarating than any high the media tries to sell. A productive, intentional life investing in the things that matter to God - intimacy between you and Him, and preferring one another in a lifestyle of honor and love. Wow, I would chase that until my hearts drops out of my chest! All that other window dressing? It's not worth the chase. Why? Because it's not normal, and quite honestly, it never will be.
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