1 Timothy 6:10
The most understated principle in all time. Probably equally important to expand the application to power and acquiring 'stuff'.
I just watched a movie called City of God (Brazilian movie, based on a true story), about slums in Rio de Janiero. It was pretty powerful. It chronicles how a single man ends up holding almost all the power in this one area. He was one messed up person, ever since his childhood--when he killed several people (and enjoyed it) during a robbery he and some older guys staged. He grows up hardened, amazingly selfish and desiring ever increasing amounts of money and power.
There are so many things going on in my head right now (note to self: not good to analyze art at 1:47AM)...one: the pursuit of money, power, gain, success, etc. is worthless and ultimately completely empty. I don't know how many times I must face this fact before I come to grips with it. It's almost as if Little Zé (the "drug lord" as we would probably call it, though it's not quite the same thing as in the U.S.) eventually loses focus on why he's killing, stealing, robbing, raping, etc. and ends up doing those things for some nebulous idea of "wealth." Where did it get him? He enlarged his base of operations, but materially he didn't really improve: he never left the slums; consequently, his housing didn't improve, neither did his posessions (beyond more alcohol, guns, and drugs. but what's that, besides complacency?). Spiritually he was corrupt and depraved. Sounds like success eluded him both by the world's standards and, more importantly, by God's.
The value of life in these places is almost nothing, and it shocks me how flippantly people just kill others. The body count was high in the movie, but realistically so (not like crazy stuff like the Matrix). People have lost a lot of value these days. Each person who gets a bullet in them represents years of development, of building relationships, loving, hating, giving, taking, etc. The experiences and time built into even a 14 year-old is amazing. And most important of all, each person is individually created by God. Who are we to have the right to take a life at a simple pull of a trigger? God knits people together in 9 months--does things that we could only dream of doing with science--, that person grows, develops, matures, and experiences life for how many number of years, then one day someone decides that person's angered them for whatever reason and bam, all of that time is wasted. It makes me so mad.
Maybe the part that applies to me the most is just how big of a waste my life seems. I don't want to settle for middle-class America anymore. I don't want to be satisfied with having things. I don't want to live complacently. I don't want to live cushioned, insulated from the violence, sin, and death that occurs all around me in every part of the world, while I live like everything's hunky-dory.
And I look at my life and see the exact opposite.
I played NOLF2 for several hours today. I want to write some rendering software. Even my job is to make a distraction from real life (i.e. I program video games). I'm steeped in aesthetics. On one hand, I see that as the greatest place to glorify my Creator, but on the other hand, what am I doing to get His Truth out? Not a whole lot. The world is so dark and there's lots of evil (which I feel's only growing worse).
God help me to be a light. People need You. I need You. I need to show others to You. These are the things of life. You are the thing of life. Amen.