Reflection:

I have many wonderful memories of being on holiday. Common to those experiences were feeling relaxed, indulging in delicious food and drink, fun and games, time with loved ones, the absence of life’s pressures. There was an ease that is often absent from the cut and thrust of day-to-day life.

There is a powerful economic-spiritual force that dominates our culture called consumerism. It promotes having as much of the good life as possible in the here and now, a kind of holiday mindset. This holiday mindset often pulls in the opposite direction to the Christian life.

To be sure, the Christian life is full of joy, hope, and peace. And Christ’s yoke is easy. However, the Christian life is no holiday.

The holiday mindset says embrace self-indulgence. Jesus says embrace self-denial.

A holiday mindset minimises inconvenience. Bearing one another’s burdens is rather inconvenient.

The more a person is beguiled by the holiday mindset, the less Christian their thinking will be. They will expect life to resemble a long holiday, and this will dramatically reduce their spiritual resilience in the course of life’s pressures while following Jesus.

To what extent has your outlook on life been influenced by the holiday mindset?

Prayer:

Father, the influence of my culture upon my faith is so subtle that most of the time I can’t even see it. Holy Spirit, would you reveal the truth of how much my own thinking about life has been influenced by consumerism? Help me be Christ-like in my thinking, so that denying self to follow you, and being part of a community that bears each other’s burdens, is normal.