The sermon at church yesterday was about materialism. The pastor brought up several points about how things get a hold of us, how we just feel this overwhelming need to have certain things. The pastor then went on to give several examples of times where he had felt the urge to purchase things different products and how they always broke or not being used. One way or another the things always let him down. This led me to reflect on my own life and the times that things have let me down. I have spent a bit of time pondering these times, so I thought I would share them with you.
Something you must know about me, I love gadgets. I worked in the cell phone industry for almost five years, so I have a weakness for the latest and greatest phones. On several occasions over the last three years I would find out about a new phone coming out and I would have to have it. I would read the reviews, watch the video’s, do my own critiques, and many times still, just have to have it. I noticed this was more so when things were going wrong. If work was stressful, family life was full of conflict, or spiritually I was going through a dry time, I would find myself more apt to feel the overwhelming NEED to have it. I just knew that if would make my life better. Have you ever had that feeling?
I have had this feeling, there have been several instances were I have spent a lot of money on cell phones trying to quench that feeling, have you ever done that? I can remember the last three phones that I purchased standing there looking at it, still gleaming with that brand new feeling. I remember setting up several of the features that I had looked forward to so much. I remember standing there looking at my phone and thinking ‘Now what?’ I had the brand new phone, I had integrated all the features that I had wanted to use, and now that I had accomplished everything I had wanted, I still had this empty/un-quenched feeling inside. It was almost as if it was a dark hole inside me, the kind that are in the movies were people fall in to but never land, and I keep trying to fill it up…Have you experienced this?
While the materialism seems to be this desire to solve life’s problems through stuff, the effects are many. Materialism can lead us into debt, increased stress in our lives, and more importantly our relationships and marriages. Materialism can also lead us to become a workaholic, and to constantly try to keep up with the Joneses. One last thing it can do, and possibly the most important, it can determine our self worth, which can be by far the most devastating. As we begin to place value on ourselves based on what we have, what we don’t have, and what someone else has. Once we base our self worth on our things, we find that we can’t ever be happy, because once we have our new cell phone, and we are standing in the store playing with it, and it’s finally yours, you realize it doesn’t mean anything. If your brand new item doesn’t mean anything, then you now don’t feel like you have much worth.
The answer to materialism is may sound obvious, it may sound simple, and it is, both. However, it’s not easy, and it’s not intended to be. The cure for materialism it total surrender and obedience to Christ. The cure calls for you to surrender your desires, goals, ambitions, and self worth to Him. He asks you to find your worth in Him, your desire for Him, and your surrender to Him. This is not an easy task, because it isn’t a task, it’s a series of choices that we make for the rest of our life. The only way this works, the only way that we can make these choices, is if we chose to find value in the same things that Christ has called us to, apart from Him, this is impossible.
What about you? How have you overcome the effects of materialism in your life?
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