How's Your Inner Life?

for The Hanford Sentinel

Our culture is focused on all things external. It is all about what you look like, what you are doing and what you own. It asks questions like, "Are you beautiful? Are you thin? How big is your paycheck? and, by the way, What do you drive?"

The people that we read about in magazines and watch on television are the beautiful ones who are often ridiculously wealthy and morally bankrupt. We are entertained by their antics—we want to know who is sleeping with who this month, who's the latest to drunkenly crash their Mercedes into a telephone pole and how much money was spent on that lavish new mansion, Italian sports car or over-the-top party.

At one moment we marvel at their lack of common sense, and the next we applaud their commitment to the latest charity fad. And rather then stop and ask ourselves whether this overemphasis on all things shallow and superficial is problematic, we simply excuse our worship at the altar of the cult of personality with a glib, "It's just entertainment."

And it is entertainment. It is packaged in glossy magazines with racy covers, in highly edited and stylized pop culture news programs and in continuously updated websites the likes of TMZ, Popeater and Perezhilton. I have nothing against entertainment, but I think we would be wise to note that a culture's forms of entertainment are indicative of the state of its inner life and potentially of its future (think Rome and the Coliseum).

The problem with our culture's focus on the superficial is that it ignores the importance of the inner life. You might be the most beautiful person in the world (and have the People magazine article to prove it) but that says nothing about whether or not you are a good person. A good person is one who has developed virtues like patience, self-control, forgiveness and servanthood. Rare are the magazine covers given to people who have developed these qualities.

Jesus said "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." He said this to underline that the body is not the most important thing in life. Chiseled abs are not the key to heaven's gates. It is the soul we should be the most concerned about.

Your soul is the only thing you get to take with you when you die. You will carry with you what you have allowed your soul to become. Will your soul be full of anxiety or peace? Will it be fearful or faith-filled? Will it be bitter and condemning or contented and forgiving? You get to decide the kind of soul you have.

The challenge is that developing your soul takes work. A good soul does not happen by accident. You do not develop a healthy soul by passively consuming whatever entertainment comes easily to hand. You have to cooperate with Father God and choose to be loving, be patient and be content.

I must warn you, choosing to do these things means going against the current of our culture. It will not be easy. But it will be well worth it.

This weekend, the pastors of Kings County would love to encourage you to make the right decisions and develop your inner life. Why don't you swim against the current and start paying attention to your soul?