Sedentary

“Sedentary living allows people to accumulate material goods which can lead to jealousy, power imbalances, and violence.” –Sam Kean, Dinner With King Tut*

This quote is worth reading again. “Sedentary living allows people to accumulate material goods which can lead to jealousy, power imbalances, and violence.” Maybe, at first glance you don’t see anything remotely connected with our Christian lives. There’s not a lot of jealousy, power imbalance, or violence, is there? Probably not.

But sedentary living? I’d have to say yes.

This quote comes from a section of the book comparing hunter/gatherer societies with societies who settled into an agricultural way of life. The idea, whether right or wrong, was that a group of hunter/gatherers were so involved with the hard pursuit of daily sustenance and living, that they worked together in a more connected way and were less likely to become involved in fighting among themselves.

On the other hand, agricultural societies were able to begin laying up excess. This led to comparisons of who had more. It gave way to time to refine skills which could be traded for more and better goods. This focus on accumulation soon led to all sorts of negative behavior towards others within the group.

How many of us lead a sedentary Christian life? We go to church on Sunday and nod along with the message, but we don’t necessarily pursue change throughout the week. We know we lack a little charity toward those we come in contact with, but it’s just a little failure; there are a lot of things I’m doing OK in. We understand that we struggle with trust, but don’t most people?

And so we become comfortable. We start to accumulate these human traits, becoming lulled to the reality that we are also becoming stagnant.

As we become mired in our comfortable spot, we start losing our dependence on and appreciation for those around us. We look at what others possess—maybe their talents or social position—and become jealous that they have what we perceive as more. We become frustrated when others won’t listen to our thoughts or ways of doing things, and feel like anything outside of our comfort zone is outside of our control and a threat to our very existence. Our thoughts and words about others begin to contain elements of violence. No, we’re not going out and attacking people with knives, but we are apt to cause them pain in other ways.

Hardship can be a catalyst for growth or we can refuse to rise to the challenge and stay in our sedentary state. This is a choice we have to make. It’s an opportunity to choose the “hard right over the easy wrong.”

When we become focused on our own relationship with God and on improving our obedience, faith, and connection with Him, we are so busy going out hunting and gathering, we don’t have time to devote to the critical spirits that would like to sneak in. We become steadily closer to His heart and learn to lean into trusting Him rather than giving in to doubts. We feel His grace and love so keenly in our own lives, we are compelled to give them freely to others.

1 Samuel 3:19 says And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. Samuel is one of only a few characters in the Bible who is mentioned specifically as growing. I’m impressed with the follow-up thought that the Lord did not let any of his words fall to the ground. I believe that refers to the fact that none of his prophecies were faulty.

However, I think this can also be true for us. As we keep our eyes on Jesus and work to grow our relationship with Him, we will find that He does not ignore our efforts or let them be in vain. Real relationships take work. Our relationship with God is no different. It isn’t a passive thing, but an active step of faith, of obedience, of taking responsibility for our own choices.

In our Christian lives, sedentary living is a choice we too often make unconsciously. It just sort of happens.

I want to become more conscious of my choices. I want to be in control only of giving my control to God. I want to learn to lean so heavily on Him that I dare not face one moment, one conversation, one thought process without His presence near.

Maybe we could say this: Active living allows people to remain unattached to material goods, which can lead to more connectedness, trust in God and those around us, and a healing atmosphere.

Or maybe I’m wrong. That’s OK, too. I just hope you will tell me if that’s the case. We know leading a sedentary lifestyle is dangerous to our physical health, and it’s even more so to our spiritual health because we possess an eternal soul. It might not be fun to hear that I’m wrong, and it may not be fun for you to tell me so, but having that difficult conversation will give both of us a chance to break free from the bonds of sedentary and grow together into a more true relationship, connected through our shared desire to pursue a connection with God.

 

*This is not a book recommendation. I have not yet finished Dinner With King Tut so I have no idea what things may pop up in future chapters. What I can say is that I have enjoyed it so far. It is a mixture of stories about experimental archeology (which some archeologists protest is not archeology at all) and fictional scenarios demonstrating the lifestyles of the historical people who would have used the techniques explored. Read at your own risk if that sounds interesting to you.