Recently, Sharon and I ventured up to our attic to straighten things up and to get rid of what we haven’t used for a long time and probably never will. I came across some computer equipment that was over 20 years old, like modems that used phone lines for internet access. They were used in the first computers we owned. Many times we were knocked off the internet when someone else in the house picked up the phone! I also found a 1998 issue of Computer Shopper and got a good laugh at what was being advertised as the latest and greatest technology – 32 MB of RAM and a 4 GB hard drive. Wow!
When we were done purging, we had filled boxes full of things that we paid good money for way back then, but now are useless; state of the art stuff, like floppy drives and mice with balls inside. About 30 years ago, one of my kids found a vinyl record album and asked me, “What is this, Dad?” The other day, one of his kids picked up an audio cassette and asked me, “What is this, Poppy?” One day my great grandkids will ask what a CD is used for. They use to be in every computer and every car. Now we can store thousands of songs on a little piece of plastic no bigger than our thumb. When I first started servicing fax machines, they were as big as a washing machine and rocked back and forth, recoiling from the scanner that moved across the page for every line.
We are told how new and improved a product is, and then a year later it becomes obsolete. Samsung’s Galaxy phone is on its 10th model and Apple’s iPhone is on number 11. Our first computer used the Windows 95 operating system. As of this writing, six versions have come and gone since then. The P-38 Lightning was the most advanced fighter plane in the Second World War and could go 443 mph. Today, the F-35 Lightning can go three times that fast and can take off and land vertically.
It’s funny how excited we get about our purchases, only to experience buyer’s remorse and become disenchanted a short time later when something newer comes along. We once had a neighbor who bought a brand new Camaro, but the very next year traded it in for an all-new model.
Our unquenchable desire for more and more stuff causes us to spend more than we make, drowning us in debt and straining our marriages. Once we get on the train of unbridled consumerism, we’ll never reach our destination because there will always be something newer and better to entice us. How can we break free from this vicious cycle?
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
The first step is to see what treasure your heart is focused on. I’ll give you a clue: it’s what you think about the most. In affluent America, with most of our physical needs met, it’s easy to become self-reliant. When we are feeling low, we can buy something new to help lift our spirits. Of course, that’s always short-lived. So we just keep buying more stuff or self-medicate ourselves with food or drugs or therapy to keep our depression at bay, but our souls remain hungry.
There is a better alternative, one that never wears out or becomes obsolete. In fact, it is new every morning:
Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. (1 Timothy 6:17)
When we are focused on pursuing Christ and serving him and seeing him use us to help others come to know him, nothing the world has to offer even comes close to that kind of fulfillment. Our spending decreases, our saving increases and we are able to help others financially. Eventually, the material things we have seem good enough. We begin to see that:
Happiness is not getting what we want. It’s wanting what we have.
Two things I ask of you, LORD; do not refuse me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God. (Proverbs 30:7-9)
Dwell in His secret place 