Materialism
Do you struggle with an unhealthy attachment to money or material things?
Verse of the Day
‘Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”’
Today’s Devotional
Let’s talk about money and possessions. Are you uncomfortable yet? In polite society, one does not discuss money. Or at least that’s how I was raised. Money is a touchy subject.
Jesus had no such objections to talking about money. Apparently, according to Richard Foster, there are people who believe that the Bible is ambiguous on economic topics. That is simply not true. Foster gives us the following examples:
- About land ownership, God says, “The land must never be sold on a permanent basis, for the land belongs to me. You are only foreigners and tenant farmers working for me.” (Leviticus 25:23) The Old Testament legislation of the year of Jubilee stipulated that all land was to revert back to its original owner. In fact, the Bible declares that all wealth itself belongs to God, and one purpose of the year of Jubilee was to provide a regular redistribution of wealth.
- Constantly the Bible deals decisively with the inner spirit of slavery that an idolatrous attachment to wealth brings.
- Jesus declared war on the materialism of His day. (And I would suggest that He declares war on the materialism of our day as well.) The Aramaic term for wealth is “mammon” and Jesus condemns it as a rival to God: “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Luke 16:13)
- “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.” (Matthew 6:19, 21) He is not saying that the heart should or should not be where the treasure is. He is stating the plain fact that wherever you find the treasure, you will find the heart.
- Jesus calls all who would follow Him to a joyful life of carefree unconcern for possessions: “Give to everyone who begs from you; and of him who takes away your goods do not ask them again.” (Luke 6:30)
So why is money and wealth such a touchy subject? Why do we struggle so much with not being attached to money and material things? If we go back to our central passage, the root may be that we are not seeking God’s Kingdom first. We are trying to establish our own earthly kingdom – which we do out of a need for false security and status. One of my favorite quotes from the “Simplicity” chapter is this: “We are trapped in a maze of competing attachments. One moment we make decisions on the basis of sound reason and the next moment out of fear of what others will think of us.”
We are trapped in a modern day Babylon. And we want to fit in. With this overwhelming desire to “belong” among our peers, perhaps we have not fully grasped our belonging to God. We simply cannot conform to this world and still expect to reap the blessings of the Kingdom of God. My other favorite quote from this chapter is this: “It is time to awaken to the fact that conformity to a sick society is to be sick.”
I think it’s acceptable to have a conversation with God about how this applies to me. If we ask Him where and how we are conforming to this world’s views of money and possessions, He loves us enough to gently show us. And the reason we need not love money and things is stated clearly in today’s verse: because God is with us. What more do we actually need than God?
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How do you struggle with a love for money or things?
Describe what a joyful life of carefree unconcern for possessions would look like for you?
Where is your treasure?
What might the dangers be of trying to establish your own earthly kingdom?
How does God’s statement that “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you” affect your views of money and possessions? How should it affect you?