babylon and us

i have been browsing thru other christian womens blogs and having a fun time discovering like minds and thotprovoking conversations. one that i came upon recently is from Julie at the peapod four. The Peapod Four: Studying Daniel she shares what she has learned from a study on daniel by beth moore. here's what Julie has to say:

"I am, and there is none besides me" was essentially the motto of ancient Babylon. Our culture is very much like that. Everything in western culture is all about the individual. We can get things anyway we want them and usually anytime we want them. Babylon was about over-indulgence. They didn't stop till they had it all. Sounds a little like us. As Beth says, "We are overwhelmed in a sea of self-absorption." We don't always recognize it or call it that, but our culture says it's all about us.

wow! that sure sounds like the culture i live in. here's more:

So as I listened to this session I realized just how true this was in my own life. I wouldn't naturally characterize myself as self-absorbed or even over-indulgent, but God began to open my eyes to the truth. Here's the way I see it now. When I graduated from high school and went on to college, I stepped out from underneath of my parents' authority. With that freedom, I began to do whatever it was that I wanted to do. I did not rebel or experiment with things that I knew were wrong, but I did over-indulge in the little things. Basically whatever I wanted. So in college, if I wanted to buy a box of Little Debbie donuts and eat them for breakfast, I did. If I wanted to eat pizza for dinner all week, I did. Once I got married and started grocery shopping, I bought whatever looked good. I remember Michael saying once that the way I shopped was as if I'd never been in a grocery store before. He said I was awed by everything. I tried all sorts of new things. So all during my twenties I have eaten what I wanted, baked what I wanted, gone where I wanted, and so on. Up until this past year or two, I have also purchased what I wanted as well. Not the big items like cars, furniture, computers, etc., but the little things...like what they sell at Target. I know many of us fall into that category because I hear people talking all the time about how they spent more than they meant to at BJ's or Sam's or Walmart.

boy can i see myself in this scenerio.

Once this became so clear to me, I was challenged by it.... I want to swim against the culture on this one. I've already started watching what all I put in my mouth. It's embarrassing, but I was eating a lot more than I was truly hungry for. I ate things because I was bored. I ate things because I thought I should. I ate things because I just wanted to! How silly. I bought things without having a good reason for it. I bought things because it was on sale. I bought things because it was cheap and I might need it someday. Again, how silly. I am determined to fight my way back from the influence of our culture. I don't want my motto to be "I am, and there is none besides me".

isn't that good? i am so encouraged and convicted by julies blog. i too want to swim against this culture i'm surrounded by. its so easy to go with the flow cuz its all around us. so much harder to swim against the stream. but i believe it is so worth it.