Like any girl, I love clothes, shoes and purses. Sometimes though, I worry that I place too much value on my possessions. When I’m not feeling like myself, I immediately think that shopping will make my life better. I think that buying a new outfit will actually change my life for the better. Over Christmas break, I started to realize what a hold materialism had on my life. I was in my car driving when out of nowhere I started panicking that my future might not be full of wealth. Needless to say, when I got home, I got out my bible, my journal and just tried to figure out where these feelings were coming from – why did I want more, more, more?
Why did I want more? That’s simple – I think that stuff is going to make my life better, I think that what I have can positively define me. I think that material possessions can fill voids in my heart that only Jesus can. However, time after time, I turn to the things that represent wealth in my life to satisfy me. When I do this, the blessings in my life actually prevent me from glorifying God with all that I am.
In his book, Radical, David Platt talks about what happens when material possessions stop being blessings and start being barriers. Jesus does not just want us to give my leftovers to Him; He wants all of me – my whole identity and everything He has blessed me with. I should be talking everything that He has given me and offering it back to Him with open hands and no reluctance. Jesus says that if I don’t love Him more than my mom and dad then I don’t deserve to be His disciple (Matthew 10:37-39). It should also say that if I love my Uggs, Coach clutch and Northface coats more than Him that I cannot be His disciple.
The world wants me to want more, more, more materialistic things. Jesus wants me to want more, more, more of Him. When I choose shopping over talking to Him, or value what my friends think above the Bible – His words—I CANNOT be His disciple, and my materialism becomes a barrier to my faith. This does not mean that I can’t enjoy nice things; I just cannot forget that my nice things do not and cannot define who I am. I am so much more than a Longchamp carrying, Northface and Ugg wearing sorority girls. I am a beloved daughter of God. I, even in my sinfulness, am worth dying for. My prayer is that I stop looking at materialistic things as things that will make my life better, and that instead I view them as wonderful blessings, but not worth placing my value in. That I remember, like any other idol, they have ability to turn me away from God and consume me. So Jesus, please remind me that You ARE enough to satisfy me. You are more than enough.
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