Copyright by Shea Oakley<\/p>\n
All rights reserved<\/p>\n
We live in a material world. God ordained matter and called it good. He made us substantive beings, not just spirit but flesh, and called it good. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with material things. The wrong comes when human beings assign an inordinate value to those things. The elevation of created things over the Creator is the very definition of idolatry.<\/p>\n
Today the average person does not bow before an idol of wood or stone but idolatry lives on nonetheless. One form it takes in our world is materialism. Nowhere on Earth is this materialism more evident than in the 21st<\/sup> Century West. As the bumper sticker says \u201cHe who dies with the most toys wins\u201d and whether we know it or not many of us have bought into that philosophy to one degree or another. An older saying is \u201cmoney can\u2019t buy happiness\u201d yet so many of us keep trying to do just that. We think just one more car\/home\/smartphone\/etc. will give us the fulfillment and contentment we desire. But this is, as Solomon said, \u201ca chasing after the wind\u201d and an expensive wild goose chase it is.<\/p>\n So how much is enough? The Apostle Paul encouraged us to be content with what we have. He went further to tell us that we should, at least could, be satisfied with our daily bread and the clothes on our back. This is a scary thought to most of us today who have become so defensive about the earthly riches we store up.<\/p>\n God does not condemn wealth but He does condemn the love of wealth over the love of Him who gives it. In 1 Timothy 6:18 the rich are told \u201cto do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.\u201d God does not tell everyone to sell everything they have and give it to the poor. There is a place for the wealthy Christian in God\u2019s eyes. There is no place, however, for those who have knowingly or unknowingly made materialism their God.<\/p>\n It falls on Christians in the affluent West to regularly ask ourselves whether or not we are becoming slaves to our desire for things. If \u201cMore toys\u201d are getting in the way of our love for and dependence on the Lord then maybe some or all of those toys need to go. The process of letting them go may be painful but what if that is the price of true contentment? Beyond that what is the price of slavery to things that are subject to decay, cannot truly satisfy us even in this life, and will not travel with us beyond the veil of death?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Copyright by Shea Oakley All rights reserved We live in a material world. God ordained matter and called it good. He made us substantive beings, not just spirit but flesh, and called it good. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with material things. The wrong comes when human beings assign an inordinate value to those things.… <\/p>\n