Previous Episode: Who Needs God: I Do

Every commercial we see reinforces the same message: the good life is just a purchase away. We could finally be happy if we had a bigger house, a nicer car, a newer phone, a more luxurious dining room set...the list is endless. Which is kind of the point. Increasingly, sociologists and psychologists are discovering that there’s a real emotional and relational cost to have a mindset of constant accumulation as a pathway to personal fulfillment.

Jesus taught the opposite: he said that generosity was the key to living a happy and free life. Jesus even challenged some of the religious leaders of his day by pointing to what seemed to be a paradoxical problem: they were giving their money away, but they weren’t actually generous.

Which of these opposing narratives do we choose to put our trust in? Do we live in a world of scarcity as the advertisers would have us believe? Or do we live in a world of abundance as Jesus taught? And how would our lives be transformed if we chose to trust in Jesus’ vision of the world?