Stuffometer? (click to comment)

One morning I was noticing how green my neighbour’s grass was and my son said “Dad, look!” He showed me a full-page ad for a large screen TV. $48 it said. “Dad, we can buy one.” I said, “Read the little print below the big print. That’s $48 a month until the year 2842.” I was right. It’s sad how we’re teaching the next generation to mortgage their future so they can have it all now. For the first time in world history we are spending more than we make. Most weekends we fly into some North American city and look down at these massive houses. I think I know why we build them so big. It’s because we need more room for our stuff. We’ve become stuffaholics.

Would someone explain to me who convinced us that we would be happier chasing stuff than enjoying relationships? We have more shopping malls than high schools now, and advertisers spend billions convincing us we are miserable. “You poor thing. You do not have a water-filter for your cat dish. How do you live without one?” What’s next? A nose hair trimmer for your gerbil?

We have a choice. Store up for ourselves treasures on earth where they need fixing, storing, painting, maintaining, rust-proofing, and constant attention. Or follow Jesus’ advice in Matthew 6:20 and “store up treasures in heaven, where moths and rust do not destroy.”

Here are a few practical ideas to start us down the right road:

1. Get some exercise. Take a child by the hand and go for a walk. Please make sure it’s your child.

2. If you’re in debt: (a) make a budget, (b) pour lighter fluid on your credit cards, (c) use cash for all your purchases.

3. Support your church, support needy people, do something extravagant and throw a thanksgiving party any day of the year.

4. Put memories ahead of money. Remember Micah 6:8: “What does the Lord require of you? That you act justly, that you love money?” No, “that you love mercy, that you walk humbly with your God.”

I don’t have a nose hair trimmer for the gerbil, but I have what the advertisers can’t sell me, the peace of an uncluttered rich life. And when I notice that my neighbour’s grass is greener I remind myself that he has to cut it more often and that his water bill is higher.