We live in an age obsessed with the idea of fair trade and ethical consumption. We feel better spending $40 on a pair of shoes if we know that somewhere in Africa, a kid gets a pair for free. We don’t have regrets buying six boxes of Girl Scout cookies because we know the money spent helps a little girl meet her goal (also, they're delicious).
We want to feel good in buying unnecessary things. We want to reap benefits for indulging in our own pleasures. Yeah, I spent $80 on some shoes, but I don’t feel bad about it because the money goes to someone else, too! We justify our materialism. We don’t buy those shoes because we desperately want to help shoe someone else - we buy the shoes because we want them, and the secondary benefit is just a bonus.
If you really wanted barefoot children in poverty to have shoes so badly, then you would have just donated the money you spent on your own shoes to an organization who provides shoes for those kids. We say we want to give, that we want to help, but we do so with the expectation we will get something in return.
We want to give, but we also want to receive.
Without so much as a second thought, I subjected myself to thousands of dollars worth of debt to further my education, and go to a good college. It was never a question of if I went to college but, rather, which one because we, as a society, believe going to college leads to a better life. College means you get a degree, and a degree leads to a better selection of jobs, and a wide selection of jobs means a wide variety of salaries (of which you obviously pick the largest) because more money means financial security and financial security means a comfortable life.
It’s pretty easy to track alongside this train of thought, right? Everybody agrees with it - Christians, atheists, Muslims, humanists, etc. The church encourages you to take your education to the next level, as to be the best version of yourself by societal standards, and I wasn’t concerned in the least bit about making it into college.
I knew I was smart enough, I knew I had substantial amounts of scholarships, and I knew my parents would pay the remaining balance of my tuition. So, without any hesitation at all, I picked the college I wanted to go to, enrolled, and spent $150,000 because it would allow me to minister to people AND get a well-paying job. After all, that’s what God wants for all of us, right? To seek financial comfort and social status?
Wrong.
I am not saying everyone who goes to college and has a well-paying job is a terrible Christian. Everyone’s mission is different, and everyone is used in different ways. However, let’s think about where our priorities are... Are we going to college because we want to learn and use our knowledge to minister to others, or are we going to college to get a job that pays well, so we can live comfortably?
Personally, I love to learn, and I love college. Yet, I don’t think I decided to go to college to build my ministry. I think I came to college because I was told if I didn’t, everyone else would look down on me. I spent $150,000 for an education I equated to ethical consumption - I would spend my money to better the church, to educate myself, so that I may expand the kingdom in my career (and receive personal benefits).
Christ offers us a much more satisfying alternative to our method of ethical consumption. When we, as a church, have the opportunity to invest in a mission ultimately benefiting us far more than any college education could, we hesitate. We are not fully convinced that mission work, being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ, is worth our finances. We are not convinced that going on mission trips, investing in our church, and expanding the kingdom of God on earth leads to a successful life in the same way that college would... but that’s ridiculous!
We prioritize where our money goes; we think mission trips are a nice side show (a hobby, if you will), but that the bulk of our financial investments ought to be in furthering our education. As a church, we need to encourage our youth to go on mission trips and to serve others with the same fervor we encourage them to go to college.
You know what? I take that back... We need to encourage our youth to go on mission trips and to serve others with more fervor and passion than we do in encouraging them to go to college.
We need to actively teach encouragement of missions. We need to reiterate the opportunity we have to invest in eternity, in people, in soul-saving, and in the expansion of heaven on earth more so than we invest the decision to invest in our own socioeconomic comfort. We, as a church, are called not to store up treasures on earth, so why then, do we invest in worldly things reaping worldly success more than we invest in missions?
Why was it so difficult for me to say yes to a $3,200 mission trip reaping eternal rewards for countless souls and stress about the cost when I, without so much as a second thought, said yes to a $150,000 education only reaping 70 years of reward for me alone? Where have we told the church to invest? Where are our priorities? Why are so few Christians saying yes to forsaking material wealth and no to investing in missions?
If we want to see the fruits of our labors, if we want to invest in something that helps not just ourselves but others as well, then why are we not investing in missions? We are given the opportunity to invest in eternal salvation, in the souls of people. We are doing more than giving shoes to children in Africa - we are giving a place at the right hand of the Holy God to people for eternity.
I was so concerned with getting a degree, so I can eventually have financial and social security in a world that is not my home. I was so concerned with not being able to raise funds for a mission trip that would grow me in spiritual knowledge and prosperity because I sought academic knowledge and worldly prosperity more.
If you feel the need to see change in the way you spend your money, invest in missions, invest in the church, invest in the making of heaven on earth. Our treasures, our money, here on earth are finite; they will fade away.
When you are no longer walking on this earth, the money you spend in school, in trendy clothes, in Redbubble stickers will have little impact, but the investment you made in an 18-year-old girl on a mission trip, the donation you made to the Children’s Miracle Network, the bag of coffee you bought to support a single mother in Africa will change lives.
Let’s encourage spiritual well-being more than financial security. College is not bad, but college is not for everyone. Buying a nice car, and a nice house is not bad, but it is also not for everyone. Missions are for everyone in the church - more than college and more than a nice house.
Investing in eternity is what we are called to do, so let’s talk about it more. Let’s encourage our church to be actively pursuing relationships with others. Let’s support our youth on missions more than we support our local Starbucks. Because we have the opportunity, the blessing, to invest in something transcending this life, so we may reap eternal rewards.
