…a world rolling in wealth,
Stuffed with things,
no end to its machines and gadgets,
And gods—gods of all sorts and sizes.
These people make their own gods and worship what they make.
ISAIAH 2:7-8 [MSG]

Tonight, people will camp. Tomorrow, sales records will break (some already have been broken). The world will be ostensibly “remastered” once again. Apple will release its latest world-altering, culture-defining, universe-creating device. The early adopters and the have-to-have-its will be out in full force, determined to get ahold of the latest thing and all that it promises.

What’s being sold isn’t a phone, it’s a connection to a network of other people who have aligned themselves with a set of identifying values: “We are the creative misfits and social outliers that shape the world. We ‘think different.’” At least, that’s what Apple is attempting to sell. The product, then, is a symbol of something deeper to which people long to connect.

I realize, for most of us, the iPhone is merely a really cool phone. There isn’t anything overtly right or wrong about owning one. This isn’t an indictment against Apple. But, in the midst of the inevitable hysteria of this “newest, most revolutionary, ‘bigger than bigger’” device, pause. The iPhone promises to deliver, like so many other buy-able things, what it cannot. The iPhone is simply the latest example of what we already know: we live in a created world, where created beings create things that start out as objects of admiration and can occasionally become objects of worship.

Whether it’s a phone, a car, a pair of shoes, a house, or a garden hose, it’s worth questioning the unthinking consumption that can go into buying helpful, even great things. Remember, at the end of the day, the thing(s) we have to have today will likely become tomorrow’s paper weights.

Join us this Sunday as we continue to talk about navigating the sophisticated, market-savvy world around us in our series: YOU MAKE THE CALL. This week, we’ll talk about breaking from old habits that keep us stuck while cultivating new ones that take us where we intend to go. It’ll be a great opportunity to invite people who are wrestling with some of these questions.

See you Sunday,
Jeff
____________