We are living in a world today that saturates our mind with having money and possessions. Just look at what society screams at us … "our worth is based upon what we have and how much.”
This pressure is felt all the way from elderly down to the young. Teens are now spending more than ever before, unreal amount of money every year on music, video games, movies and clothes. Our attitude about having and having more only escalates from this point on into adulthood where we then have a need to have bigger houses, faster cars and fatter bank accounts.
Not to give attention to a very worldly singer but singer Madonna , a few years ago, really said it the way it is …”I’m just a material girl who lives in a material world!”
Could that be true of America? That we have just become materialists?
I read an account of two different women who clearly had issues when it came to money. The first, Imelda Marcos, married to the President of the Philippines had access to the national treasury of billions to finance her shopping sprees. It is said that she had a collection of 3000 pair of shoes, 1500 purses and 1200 designer gowns that she only wore one time.
The second woman, was Hetty Green. She rarely bathed and her underclothes would fall to pieces before she would buy another. Her children did not use hot water to bath and for food, she bought barrels of biscuits to live off of for months.
Reading about these two women caused me to think about what exactly was a “materialist”? Most of you reading this will probably agree that the first lady was clearly a materialist, but I would dare say that BOTH of these women were. One spent too much, while the other spent too little. But, the rest of the story is thatwhile Hetty Green seemed to be poor, in reality, it is reported that she made 7 million dollars a year! She apparently was obsessed with the all mighty dollar, not too far off from Imelda Marcos.
Many people think that HAVING money is the problem. Having it is not what makes us a “material world”, it is what we do or, rather, don’t do, with it that causes problems.
So you see, money is never the problem. But, it is our attitude about money. If we give more money for frivolous things than we do in the offering plate, we may need an attitude check.
Jesus challenged His disciples to leave EVERYTHING to follow Him. Today, it would be difficult for us to give up our Smart phones, our laptops and our satellite dishes. After all, many of us cannot even give an hour to pray or fast a meal, let alone fast a week. So, I wonder, while we live in such a materialistic world, what, if anything, would we be willing to leave behind as we pick up the cross to follow Him?
We may live in a “material world”, but we have the ability to choose to NOT be “material girls.”
“No one 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 money.” –Matthew 6:24Whom (or what) will you serve?
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