Why I need an alarm system for my home

I was watching tv the other day and I saw an ad for a home alarm system.  The voiceover said, "This elaborate home safety system protects all that you hold dear; keeping your things safe 24/7."

This time of year always brings out the grouch in me- at least, that's what people say.  I love Christmas and I love Thanksgiving, and I hate the commercialization and materialism that marks what should be a religious holiday season.  Many times I find myself being more grouchy than thankful, more of a curmudgeon than a celebrant, and more of a clanging cymbal than a person expressing love. 

I watched this ad and something just sat wrong with me.  In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus says, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

So, number one, I'm not supposed to store up things that a thief would want to break in and steal.

However, this ad was telling me that I needed a security system to protect what Jesus said not to have in the first place.

How many of us will not only disobey Matthew 6:19, but also will buy a home security system to protect it?

Now, I'm not against home security systems.  There are people who live in neighborhoods where they do not feel safe and they need something if someone were to break in to try to hurt or kill them.  I get that.  I am not knocking home security systems.

I'm upset by the need for them.

I'm upset that Christians would live lives of such affluence that they feel the need to protect that which Jesus said not to have.

I'm upset that Christians place such a high premium on worldly goods.

I'm upset that there are some Christians whose attachment to "treasures on earth that can be stolen or destroyed" is identical to people who are non-Christians.

I'm upset that the celebration of the birthday of the Man who said, "Do not store up treasures here on earth" is marked by exactly what He said not to do- frenzied consumerism, gluttonous buying, sales goals, an onslaught of catalogs, and unbridled materialism rather than a sacrificial obedience to His command and sacrificial following of His lifestyle.

I'm upset that we have designed an entire industry around protecting the very things Jesus said not to have.

I love Christmas.  I truly do.  I love the traditions, the carols, the decorations, the time with family.  I love gathering as a family and lighting advent candles, singing Christmas hymns around a table with my family.  I love what Christmas represents- God's gift of His only Son to a world that would reject Him and crucify Him, not knowing what it was doing.  I love Jesus and what He taught.

I just wish we didn't have anything that a thief would want to steal, and therefore would have no need for security systems.  I wish we all had ALL of our treasure in heaven, where there is no need for a security system.  

This picture pretty much sums up my opinion of Black Friday and the ensuing holiday shopping season:

See why people call me a grouch?  I'm truly sorry- I don't mean to insult anyone or be a grouch.  It's just that when I read Matthew 6:19, and I look at the season coming upon us with all the buying and consuming and "storing up of treasures here," I just can't get them to coincide.  Could it be that Jesus would have us celebrate His birthday much differently than we celebrate it?
 

She called me "Dad."

I'm not her father.

We don't have the same skin color, the same language, or the same culture.  We don't have the same address, upbringing, or address.  She lives in a country that is all the way on the other side of the world.

Why would she call me "dad?"

I've only seen her once, and I don't even remember seeing her when I was there.

Yet, she called me "dad."

There are only four people in this world who have the right to call me dad.  By birth, that is.  My four children that my wife and I gave birth to have the right to call me dad.  This little girl isn't one of them.

And yet I'm a complete mess.  I'm bawling my eyes out.

See, in her eyes, I'm her father.  In her eyes, my wife is her mother.  That's because we are the closest things to parents she's ever had.  We send her $25 a month, write a few letters, and pray for her.  That hardly qualifies as a parent, don't you think?  If any parents here in America did only that for their children, they would be locked up for neglect.

And yet, that's better than she's ever had it.  She's an orphan.  She lost her parents a while ago and now has nobody.  So when a couple in America sends $25 -less money than they would spend on one meal for themselves-  to her for an entire month's provisions, she adopts them as parents and calls them Mom and Dad.

Like I said before, I'm a complete mess.  Why am I crying like this?

I didn't use to like children.  I didn't grow up around kids.  I was the typical guy that got very annoyed with crying children.  I didn't want to hold them, didn't want to play with them, and I sure wasn't going to change any diapers or play horsey or anything like that.  Whenever a baby was present, the girls all fawned over him or her, and I stayed away.  Kids annoyed me to no end.

When I became a father, all of that changed.  I truly love children.  I love being called "Daddy."  I love being the strong protector.  I love watching them learn, grow, develop, and succeed.  I love all that.  But I am seriously asking myself why this orphan's words to me have affected me so deeply.

I believe it's because I once was an orphan too.  All of us are, or were, at some point.

The Bible says that God adopts us as His own when we become followers of Him.  We aren't just part of an impersonal crowd that hopes to get a glimpse of some rock-star celebrity.  He truly becomes our Father.  We are orphans without a dad, and He adopts us as His own.

That little girl in India didn't know me.  She only knew that some people in America provided her with what she needed- food, clothing, shelter, and education.  Before I was a Christian, I didn't know God.  I just knew that He provided me with what I needed- forgiveness of my sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit within me to guide me.

She accepted me as her father.  I accepted God as my Father.

She spoke to me, calling me Dad.  I spoke to God, calling Him Dad.

My goodness, is this emotion I am feeling right now- is this the emotion God feels when one of us becomes a follower of His?  Is this what God experiences when He adopts us as His children?  Does God cry like I am right now, moved to the point of tears that there is another person calling Him "Dad?"

I can't see it any other way.  Of course He does.

What an amazing God we serve.

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."  John 14:18