Babylon is being used here in Revelation 18 as a symbol of worldly powers that are characterised by greed and injustice. In the immediate context this power was embodied in Rome, but it is always present in some form. We may not live under greedy dictatorships as they did in those times, but our lives can still be dictated by greed. The world that we live in is ruled by corporations that don’t just sell you stuff; they sell you a lifestyle. The modern market does not just create products to meet needs, it creates needs to meet products. There is nothing inherently wrong with the acquisition of wealth. But when wealth leads to a life of constant insatiable consumption, we begin to lose the freedom that comes from contentment. God wants us to enjoy the good things of life because they are expressions of his goodness. Pleasure is not to be renounced. The problem is when we become preoccupied with what we don’t have because we have been robbed of the enjoyment of what we do have. Contentment is the enemy of consumerism. So, the market shrewdly cultivates discontentment. And it makes no one happy. This is the tragic irony of it. To be happy is not to have a lot but to be content with little. Learn to live simply and enjoy the simple things in life. Enjoy what you have now and don’t preoccupy yourself with what you don’t have. Don’t get drawn into the patterns of this world.
Reflect on what God has blessed you with and give him thanks for that.
Read Revelation 18:9-24.
