These words in big bold print took up most of the newspaper page: ‘Makes you feel good’. Though this was the advertising slogan for a tourist destination, it summarised the marketing strategy in most forms of advertising. It’s all about you being entertained, doing what you feel like and having a good time. Why is our society so keen to promote the idea life is about pleasure and having fun? One of the major reasons would have to be money.
Money drives our society – commerce and money. To make money we must sell something; and to sell something we must get a consumer and people who pursue pleasure are great consumers. They will spend money without a thought on anything that gives them a fun time or makes them feel good.
Advertising has sold people the lie that satisfaction is found in material things and the next ‘feel good’ experience. If you want it – you should have it. If you feel like it – just do it. Don’t wait – get it now! When people adopt this attitude to life, they become consuming monsters. The down side to this pleasure-based consumerism is eventually it will destroy the society that created it.
Our society is self-destructing. Sure, there may be plenty of money around but look at what we are doing to get it. There is no line we won’t cross to gain more money. On a current affairs program they were questioning a wealthy, porn movie director about the abuse and beatings in her videos. Her response was, and I quote, ‘Yeah, I exploit people, but it’s good for me and that’s what matters’. Multi-national companies willingly destroy the environment just to increase profit margin. What about abortion? Don’t think for a minute the issue is just about so-called ‘family planning’. Abortion is a multi-million dollar industry.
‘For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness’ (NKJV). Let’s not kid ourselves, the love of money has done to us exactly what 1 Timothy 6:10 said it would. It draws us away from God and causes us to do all kinds of evil. More than that, the love of money is one of the few things that make Jesus really angry.
Matthew 21:12 says Jesus drove out from the temple of God those buying and selling, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers. Jesus was absolutely furious. It would be like charging into a major department store and smashing the till with a baseball bat, knocking over all the clothes racks, turning the elevators off, physically throwing the manager out on the street and closing the centre down.
Throughout His life Jesus never did anything else like His cleansing of the temple. It was almost as if He lost His temper. Why did this make him so angry? The next verse gives us a clue. After He cleared out the money makers verse 14 says, ‘Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.’
Jesus came to heal a lost, sick, sinful world. This was His priority. We must follow His example. When the House of God pays more attention to personal prosperity, offerings and building funds than it does to needy people it will attract Jesus’ attention. Christ destroyed many prospering businesses that day He cleansed His House. Let us drive the love of money from our lives before Jesus does. It upsets Him. He knows when pleasure is our passion and money becomes our love, we will exploit His gospel, other people, and do all kinds of evil.