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The Plastic Soul of a College Idiot....
I’ve carried a credit card since 1995. I know that because the words; “Member Since: 95,” are etched into the card’s face. I remember exactly when I got that card: I signed up for it at a table in the hallway of the Texas A&M Memorial Student Center—I did so in order to obtain one of the “free” t-shirts they were handing out. Of course, being 6’6” it didn’t fit right, and I quickly forgot that I had even signed up for a credit card until one day it arrived in the mail, all shiny and new, ready to be used just as soon as I activated it!
By the end of my college career, I had put nearly everything on that card; from groceries, to dining out, to bar tabs, to countless CDs and paperback books, and even a wedding engagement ring! I never paid off my debt at the end of the month, and I sometimes skipped payments. Sad thing was, I had numerous friends whose credit card abuses made mine look like child’s play with monopoly money.
That dang card enabled me to live like a king for a day (many days, actually), yet guaranteed that I was quickly turning into a fool for a lifetime. Luckily, I married a CPA (and a darn good one, too) right out of college and from that day forward she began to patiently teach me about what it means to be a good steward. Hindsight being 20/20, I realize that I was such an incredible idiot, and it all started with a free t-shirt that didn’t even fit!
The Answer is “Greed”...
Why do so many of us live so far ahead of their means? Why are so many campuses so terribly littered with credit card reps offering cheap trinkets to unsuspecting students? What does it truly mean to “buy now, pay later?” Or why are we so willing to believe that “Eat, Drink and Be Merry, for Tomorrow We Die” is a good rule of thumb by which to live? I believe the simple answer is Greed
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Greed distorts our perceptions by seducing us to believe that our present desires are so insatiable that we can worry about paying the bill later. From a spiritual standpoint, this is a very dangerous way to live. The things given to us—each day, each breath, each day’s sustenance, each day’s bank statement—are provided as a gift from God. When Jesus prayed, “Give us this day, our daily bread,” he was acknowledging this. So when we “buy now, pay later,” I believe we are in essence flying in the face of God’s daily gift, indulgently deciding that what God has provided for us is not enough.
In Luke 12 Jesus implores his listeners to “Be on guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” He then goes into the parable about the rich fool who trusted more in the security his possessions gave him than in God. (Luke 12.13-21)
I find this parable eerily similar to how I used to plunk down my plastic every time I wanted to indulge in eating, drinking, or obtaining material possessions that I would pay for down the road. I was indulging in bigger barns before I had the means to build them. As I brazenly abused my credit card, I was saying in essence, “Soul, relax—it’s all good. Let’s live LARGE today, and pay down the road. Let’s rely on money we don’t have in order to get bigger things we don’t need and dismiss what abundance we already have.”
If your current story sounds similar to mine, here’s a suggestion: Begin by cutting your credit card in half. Get a part-time job (I highly suggest a menial dish-washing job or busing tables), and start saving up money to pay off what you owe. Pray daily that God will help you break the “plastic addiction.” Once you have paid off your debt with your dish-washing job, ask yourself the following question: Am I richer towards God than I was before I started washing these dishes? Am I still storing up treasures for myself, or am I, through my experiences, becoming richer toward God?
If you can do this, then you are no longer storing up treasures on earth, but through your experiences, you are growing richer towards God. Your soul will no longer have a plastic lining.
Mark Wylie currently serves as the Young Adult Minister for the University Church of Christ in Denver, CO. He and his wife Susan have been married for eight years, and they have a 21-month-old son, Andrew. Mark has also started the “Pioneers For Christ” Open Bible Studies on the University of Denver Campus, a weekly walk-in bible-based discussion group in which all DU students are welcome.
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