For some people it is money? We all want to be secure and to have enough to be comfortable. How much is enough? Will money by itself bring happiness, fulfillment, satisfaction? Of course not. The wealthiest people can be the most miserable. Yet most advertising is aimed at a materialistic lifestyle. Bigger is better. The more luxurious the better.

Faith for the secularist is dependent on scientific evidence for the saving power of God. What is sufficient evidence for belief? What will convince the skeptic to believe? Some people will never believe without miracles. The secular worldview is disenchanted – there is no supernatural power or presence in the world. And even when there are miraculous signs in their lives, and in the lives of their loved ones they cannot believe.

A perverse irony had brought me to that place, lying face up on the pavement looking at the “el” tracks overhead in the cold December noonday sun, utterly dependent on the services of EMTs and public safety officers, aware of my own frailty. I had just come from another lawyer’s offices, where I had edited legal papers in a case brought on behalf of a young single mother, an immigrant to these shores, who had been the victim of sexual harassment and whose case I was handling in court.

He said that his ministry philosophy had become: “The only way to capture people’s attention is entertainment. If I want people to listen to my message, I’ve got to present it in a way that grabs their attention long enough for me to communicate the gospel.” It worked. Attendance rocketed. “We’d produced consumers…too many were observing the show but not meeting God.” Then he had a heart attack.