Prosperity

The lying smile commercials are the worst, but all of the commercials can do damage. The message that stuff will make me happy is the subtext to almost every one of them. The reason that the other kinds of advertising can be dangerous is something the apostle John called the lust of the eyes.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 2:15, 16 KJV)

In your struggle with sin, I wonder how much thought you’ve given to the lust of the eyes? You’re probably well aware of pride and the lusts of the flesh. Most Christian men struggle with Jesus teaching that if you look with lust you have committed adultery in your heart, but most men probably think of that as the lust of the flesh more than the lust of the eyes.

Eve, in her temptation in the garden of Eden, exhibits all three forms of temptation from the “things of this world” in 1 John 2. “She saw that the tree was beautiful [lust of the eyes] and its fruit looked delicious [lust of the flesh], and she wanted the wisdom it would give her [pride of life]. So she took some of the fruit and ate it.” (Gen. 3.6 NLT)

I’ve been giving some thought to this whole business of looking, and this is what I think. We were originally engineered to live as sinless people in a sinless world. The world was full of good things for us to explore and enjoy. God designed us to look at something, see the good in it, and then want it. It was the mechanism He set in place so that we could enjoy the world He made for us.

The order here is very interesting. Normally we think of the longing (wanting) preceding the looking. I’ve met a woman and found her to be attractive, so I am tempted to look at her and have improper thoughts/feelings. The wanting comes before the looking. But the looking can create the longing (desire). We may find ourselves with little interest in something the first time we look at it, but as we see more and more of it we can be drawn to it.

All of which ties in very nicely with our marketing theme. I never used to care very much about cars. To be honest with you, I grew up kind of hating the internal combustion engine. I waited a whole year past my 16^th birthday to get my driver’s license. But after looking at hundreds (thousands?) of hours of car ads, I now find myself liking cars. I would like to have a new one. A new desire has been created within me.

I’m going to get to some specific recommendations later, but for now I am trying to build an awareness of what marketing is doing to us. If you think that I’m being carried away, consider this. “So kill … all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry.” (Col. 3.5 Amp)