Fattened in a day of slaughter

James 5:5 states, "You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter." This chapter of James talks about the misuse of riches and the sin of loving the world, and it also exhorts the christian to be patient and look for the coming of the Lord.
In my opinion, the verse above describes the church of America today pretty accurately. Judgment begins in the House of God and I believe we need to wake up. We are living lives of pleasure and fattening our hearts for a day of slaughter. We lavishly spend money on ourselves. We are focused on bettering ourselves and marketing the gospel to make ourselves prosperous. We need to wake up! Being a Christian is not about becoming a better you or about you being comfortable and prosperous. A Christian is dead so that Christ may live! Christianity is about serving others and bringing the good news of the gospel to a dying world at any cost!
Something that God has been speaking to me is that I need to stop talking and start doing. Many of us (myself included) have a collection of Christian books, dvds, tutorials, etc. Everytime a new book comes out or there is a big stir about something we grab the merchandise for it. What God has been telling me is that I need to get my head out of the books and off the t.v. screen and look up at a lost and dying world. Now please dont misunderstand me, I don't believe it is wrong to read Christian books or that it is a bad thing to have Christian merchandise. However, we cannot constantly fill ourselves all the time and simply read the next thing and have our head stuck in a book while a dying world goes to hell. We cannot be always learning and never doing anything. We must take what we learn in those books, and then get our head out of the book and use what we learned to help a world in desperate need of a Saviour. The purpose of filling ourselves up, is so that we can be prepared to pour ourselves out to others and be a blessing to them. Too often I think we get caught up in "I need to find the secret to prayer" or "I need a new special revelation of the Word" or "I need this guy's new secret for world evangelism". But if we would only look to God first and seek first His kingdom, he would show us these things Himself. Where do you think the people that wrote these books got their revelation and inspiration? If we would ACTUALLY pray ourselves, read the Word ourselves, and seek God with all our heart than we wouldn't need someone else's revelation. There is not going to be a secret formula for some special experiences in these books. We simply need to walk daily with God ourselves, pray, read the Word, and let Him mold us into what he wants us to be. My hope for you after reading this is not for you to think I am against Christian literature or merchandise, because I have a collection of it myself and some that I cherish because I believe we can learn from men and women of God and be encouraged by brothers and sisters in Christ. I am just firmly persuaded that we need a healthy balance of filling ourselves up without forgetting to pour ourselves out. We must serve others, not simply focus on ourselves and accumulate head knowledge. If we do not do this, I believe we are going to be doing exactly what James 5:5 says and be fattening our hearts in a day of slaughter.
My pastor talks quite often about those who claim "The message hasn't changed, only the methods have changed." I believe that anyone with any sense would realize this is not the case. I saw a church sign driving down the road on Sunday that said "We don't change the message, the message changes us." Now that is a much better quote. In the book "The Challenge of Missions" by Oswald J. Smith there is a quote about missions support that is "We do not raise it by means of suppers, bazaars, concerts, rummage sales, or oyster stews. Not because I am against these methods, but because they will not work." This is the same message my pastor has been giving for some time on reaching the lost. These things do not work, but this is where we put all our money. There is so much we could be doing, but we are wasting our time. If we would just be willing to give up one McDonald's value meal a week, or one movie ... I think you get the point ... we could send a missionary to share the gospel that could save souls for eternity. What are we going to tell God when we face Him in Heaven and he says, "Look at the misery you have caused. All your treasures have rotted away, rusted, and been eaten by moths. All that you have built has been consumed by fire and nothing is left but rubble." Those are not the words I want to hear when I see my Lord and Saviour. I want to hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. Share in the joy of your Lord." We need to wake up and make some major changes in order for this to happen. We need to seek God with all our heart and see what He would have each of us do.