Investing in the Kingdom

I will confess that I do not watch much television, but I do probably average two hours a day, consisting of news, weather, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, and of course The Beverly Hillbillies (or something comparable from TV Land). I say that to qualify, or perhaps disqualify the observation I am about to make. It seems to me that just about every other commercial on television is selling pharmaceuticals. One doesn’t have to be a brain surgeon to realize the boomers are growing older, and some are doing it “not so gracefully.” I suspect the drug companies stand to make trillions of dollars off them as it would seem they’re spending billions promoting their products. Now before you yell at me for denying someone their needed medication, let me also state that most of the commercials are for items that seem to this medical novice to be unnecessary medications, or at the very least for treating non-medical conditions. And there’s the rub. When I think of the disposable income spent on these products, many purchased in the name of vanity, it grieves me. What might be accomplished if that money were spent meeting the needs of orphaned children, oppressed women, or spreading the Gospel? What if just the advertizing monies were spent for the good of humanity? What will we say when Jesus says, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me…truly, I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the lease of these, you did not do it to me.” (Matthew 25:41-43, 45).