Money, Suffering, and Zen

People work because they think they need to.  Oftentimes they work terrible jobs, jobs they HATE, because of their "need".  They suffer and they do not know why.  I know why people suffer, it is because they are insatiable.  It is because their eyes invent things for them to need: money, power, fame, glory, honor, a job, a wife, a house, a tv, an iPod, a car and everything in between.  They need them because they are told they need them.  What if everything you owned was a tunic or two, a pair of sandals, and a walking stick, but God provided for your every need?  Are you poor or blessed?

I never have any money, but I am not poor.  It's because I give it all away.  I give to lots of people, I make huge meals to share with everyone because it makes me happy to share with them.  Can I afford it?  The world says, "No, you can't afford this.  Don't do it, you are being wasteful."  To me though, I don't care about having money.  I'm pretty sure everyone in the dorm where I live thinks I'm rich, but I've had to ask for money on more than a few occasions.  I feel no shame in it.  God provided me with an entire community of Christians who enjoy serving and providing for needs.  I happen to utilize that.  Someone once told me this "When you confess your needs to [other Christians], you are giving them the best gift of all: the opportunity to serve."  After all, those who are the greatest in the kingdom are the ones who serve.  So many people don't know how to be blessed by God.  Don't be so proud.

The Buddhists believe the way to get rid of all suffering is to achieve Nirvana by getting detached from all needs and wants.  A very noble truth, they go the path of emptiness.  However Christians, I've found, go the path of fulfillment.  Instead of eliminating every need, Christ becomes the one who fulfills every need.  I like that.  A filled and fulfilling life, life in abundance.  That is indeed what God has promised His People.

To put it bluntly, Christianity offers the better deal.  There is no meditation or koans to read/solve, and no reincarnation if you get it wrong (seriously who wants to live life again?).  If truly all road lead to the same place as is the mantra of today's society, Christianity wins hands down.  A lot of people ask me why I picked Christianity and if I think all the other religions are false.  BTW, word to the wise, never answer yes or no questions with a yes or a no.  No, I believe that the truth claims other religions make can be true or nearly true, and I never once claimed that other gods cannot exist.  There is just no other God I would rather follow than the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings.  Baal, Molech, Asherah, Buddha, Pikkiwoki, Vishnu, and whatever other gods the pluralistic society presents you simply do not match up to YHWH, the God who speaks and the God who sees me.