unemployment/stick to your guns?

If I said that I didn’t want to join the Army due to some Christian belief that we shouldn’t engage in violent behaviour against our fellow human that would probably be respected.

If however I say that I don’t want to work for Tesco’s, HMV etc. due to some Christian belief that we shouldn’t fight for over-consumption and PROFIT at cost to the planet Earth and my neighbours who live on that planet then that may be less respected. Some might think I’m being lazy and avoiding work.

There might be a way in which my opinion  might be respected but at the end of the day you need a job to earn money and they are scarce on the ground, you can’t afford to be picky so you should take anything you can get.Right?

Yet we know that our Western lifestyles are deeply unsustainable, and if people don’t know that they either haven’t been told, are living  a fantasy world or just don’t really care.
We know that we are greedy with too many of the worlds resources (fossil fuels,fresh water,soil,food) and because of that this good (but fallen) planet that God made is being destroyed.  From things we’ve heard we know that our present greedy economic system keeps many people poor, but thats a good thing for us as we shop in Asda and it keeps things cheap.

Yet if as Christians we believe in resurrection/New Creation, and that is where we are journeying to in life how could we justify going along with things that ultimately destroy and wreck the place as we go along?

We  may know that we should repent/change  our wasteful lifestyles yet when push comes to shove you need to get a job, any job and it doesn’t seem to matter what that job is.
“Sure could you not work for _______, earn money and use that money to study for what you really want to do?’
Well I could, but  would that be a bit hypocritical and two-faced?

Funnily enough I don’t enjoy the shame of being unemployed or being broke all the time but for me this Christianity business has to add up all week, not just  ‘holy’ bits that are relatively easy to tack on.Either there is a Kingdom here,(but not here) or there isn’t. What’s it to be? I can’t just work for things I don’t believe in now to get to closer to where I want to be later on because the now matters.

And surely the world hasn’t changed completely since Biblical times?
Surely there are still empires and kingdoms, emperors and kings out there who demand/expect us to worship them and hang on their every word, to not question their authority and just get on doing what they expect us to do?

How much do we go along with them knowing full well that a different king is on the throne? Do we just face up to the reality that you need a job, any job to look after your loved ones? I don’t know, its hard.
But surely Christians should be subversive and not just go merrily along hand in hand with what those emperors and kings want/expect, whatever that means?