Not ignoring the "Christmas spirit." Materialism is not new; as in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days when the Son of Man comes. Jonah said, "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs." Anything that comes between you and God is an idol. Idolatry is breaking the first of the Ten Commandments. Obadiah puts an interesting spin on materialism when he says Israel shall "possess their possessions." We must not let them dictate our lives but must remain in control of them. (We use things and love people, not love things and use people.)
Our whole society is based on consumerism, greed, and the pride of life, which is from the world and not of God (1 John 2:16). "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Cf. Matt. 6:21) "Do not store for yourselves treasures on earth...." The Bible says in Matt. 6:24 that you cannot serve God and Mammon.
The vast majority of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is consumer spending. Billy Graham has rightly quoted, "Riches are not in the abundance of possessions but in the fewness of wants." When I dedicated my life to Christ I had to get rid of my motorcycle because it had been too important to me and I wanted Christ to be first in my life. Some people can control their possessions without loving them--I couldn't. Maybe today in my more mature years as a believer things would be different. "Our life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions," said the Lord. And so I was convicted by Luke 14:33 which says, "So, therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."
You see, all of our possessions really belong to God. It is not how much of our money we give to God but how much of His money we utilize for ourselves, because it is written, "For the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" in Psalm 24:1. In his book, The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer writes of "the blessedness of possessing nothing."
You can be a poor materialist or a rich man without being rich in Christ or a rich man that is not a materialist. Woe to him who is rich in this world's goods and not rich in Christ. For it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. But with God all things are possible. "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil" according to 1 Tim. 6: 10.
CAVEAT: JUST REMEMBER THAT WE USE THINGS AND RELATE TO PEOPLE! Soli Deo Gloria!
About Me
- Karl Broberg
- I am a born-again Christian, who is Reformed, but also charismatic, spiritually speaking. (I do not speak in tongues, but I believe glossalalia is a bona fide gift not given to all, and not as great as prophecy, for example.) I have several years of college education but only completed a two-year degree. I was raised Lutheran and confirmed, but I didn't "find Christ" until I was in the Army and responded to a Billy Graham crusade in 1973. I was mentored or discipled by the Navigators in the army and upon discharge joined several evangelical, Bible-teaching churches. I was baptized as an infant, but believe in believer baptism, of which I was a partaker after my conversion experience. I believe in the "5 Onlys" of the reformation: sola fide (faith alone); sola Scriptura (Scripture alone); soli Christo (Christ alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (to God alone be the glory). I affirm TULIP as defended in the Reformation.. I affirm most of The Westminster Confession of Faith, especially pertaining to Providence.