I struggle with materialism.
I want things, nice things and sometimes will do anything to get them. I fall into the American Dream of the white picket fence and a house filled with welcoming signs and decorations on every wall. I fall into the idea that I need new outfits when things don't fit right or that I deserve a new bathroom set because I am bored with mine. After all, I work hard for my stuff, right?
Wrong, oh so wrong. And I am reminded of that all of the time. I have a boy miles away who has nothing, literally nothing and sometimes just needs a few dollars to feed his family. I have friends selling everything they own to follow Christ's leading in their life to move to Ethiopia and I have a compassion child who survives on next to nothing but still is so happy. With all of these examples in my life, I still don't get it. I still battle every. single. day. Pinterest, friends, co-workers, magazines and TV; just about everything I see speaks for more while I want less.
And today as I sit nursing a cold, I am once again faced with scripture that speaks exact opposite of my materialistic heart and I am ashamed. I am ashamed that I store my treasures here on earth. I am ashamed that I have to be taught this lesson again...
Here's the scripture...
"Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God." Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes." -Luke 12:13-23
So now my question is what do I do? How do I guard my heart from wanting more when Jesus has just stated that life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. Roger and I have taken some very practical steps to help against this especially when it comes to gift giving around every holiday but what about every day life? What about the moment in the store when I have to have it?
This is where my heart is at. I have no answers to my questions yet. I do not want to meaninglessly go through my house and get rid of items we do not use, although that may be a good start. I want to be purposeful with my purchases and purposeful with my life. I want someone to walk into my life and know that there is something different not just because I am a Christian but because I am living the way the Christ of the Bible told us to live. Now where to start?
