Materialism

It is in the evening on Christmas Day as I begin writing this article. The topic has been ruminating in my mind for several days now, and the experiences that follow have actually had a dampening effect on my enjoyment of the Christmas season.

Let me step up onto my soapbox here and get right to work. It seems as never before news headlines are focused on the expectations and results of retailers during the Christmas season. If retailers in my area did poorly, it was not for lack of turnout. It has been a tradition of mine ever since my children were born that I would have a special gift to them from me. My wife primarily handles the Christmas shopping otherwise. These gifts are not necessarily material, in the sense that they come from a shelf in a big box retail store. I have built numerous hand-made toys and pieces of furniture for the children and given the pieces to them at Christmas. Other years, I have been known to pick up a used item from a consignment store. One find for my oldest daughter when she was a baby turned out to be used by her younger siblings as they came along as well. That one toy was thoroughly enjoyed, and I was full of happiness.

This year I have been preoccupied and did not have time to utilize my carpentry skills. The Saturday before Christmas, I headed out to a store, not exactly sure what I had in mind for two of my children. When I exited the store, I decided to head to another store nearby to pick-up something for my wife.

I am telling you this for a reason, so stay with me. The traffic on the main road was extremely heavy and very slow moving, so I decided to turn onto the road around the mall and thought I would beat the traffic by going around the back of the mall. This decision ended up costing me no less than 2 hours and a lot of gas. Shoppers leaving the mall were all headed out onto the main road which itself was clogged to the maximum, so the road around the mall was essentially at a stand still. To make matters worse, there was nothing I could do because the traffic was stopped in either direction. My decision at that point was irreversible.

This experience came on the heels of the Sandy Hook school children and their teachers who lost their lives unnecessarily. The Monday before Christmas, firefighters were ambushed by a person who set his home on fire and then waited for the firefighters to respond just so he could kill them. And at the same time three people were charged with intentionally setting off an explosion in their home, so they could collect insurance money. That explosion killed several innocent people in the neighborhood.

Christmas is a special time of the year. However, I am very afraid that the real reason for Christmas and indeed for life itself has been lost among a rather large segment of the population. Consumerism and materialism are pushed as the be-all and end-all of our existence.

I am happy to be the bearer of good news, the good news of Jesus Christ. He left the riches of heaven and allowed Himself to be humiliated as an infant. That’s what we celebrate at Christmas. He lived His life to serve us, it’s all spelled out in the Bible. He gave His life to purchase our salvation from the bondage of sin. That’s what we celebrate at Easter. Without Jesus, life is a lost cause. There is no lasting satisfaction in consumerism and materialism. It leads to hopelessness.

Hear the words of Revelation 17:14, “These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.” We face a decision, either to the subject of God’s wrath on evil or to be among the called, chosen and faithful. If you ask me, those three words are some of the most beautiful descriptors of what a person can be when you give your life to Jesus. Won’t you join me today in counting yourself one of the called, chosen and faithful? Following the Lord of lords and King of kings you won’t go wrong!