Consumers or Consumed.... which one are you?

There are simply two types of people in the Body of Christ, the consumers and the consumed! If you look up the word consumed you will find this definition; “ to be fully absorbed, to be devoured completely; to be eaten up; for you to disappear because you have been swallowed by something larger.”If you are a consumed person there is nothing left of you. If you consume a meal, or a glass of something it is still there but it is on the inside of you.  Being consumed by the Lord is just like that. Now the two of you cannot be separated.Consumers, are defined as “people who go to a place for the sole purpose of getting what they desire.” You can tell the difference between consumers and those who have been consumed by the way they respond to life.Consumers are always evaluating whether or not their needs are being met or not. Those who are consumed are always aware of some one other than themselves. Consumers only consider their needs, those consumed are always concerned about the needs of those around them.I am not a shopper! I approach life as one who has received everything that I need therefore I have everything to give. As a consumed person my passion for God, for His Body makes me go beyond what some people think is reasonable.Jesus stepped into the Temple and found it filled with consumers. His response was not a casual one.“How dare you turn my Father’s House into a market.” Jesus was appalled. People were coming into the house of God only to get their personal needs met. I realized a few days ago that people thought that this scripture had to do with the reality of books, tapes, etc. Really it has to do with those who come to the house of God to get their personal needs met and don’t think that they have to bring anything of their own to sacrifice.The House of the Lord, the Body of Christ is the place where we come to be consumed, not to consume. That very simple adjustment in our minds would alter everything about how we approach the community in which we worship. It would alter the very way we worship! It would alter the worshiper.Are we consumers or are we consumed by His Presence?