As we continue looking at Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World (you can find the other posts here), we come to the chapter on materialism. The author does a great job of addressing the issues of the heart when it comes to our stuff. Here are a few quotes:
Coveting is desiring stuff too much or desiring too much stuff. It is replacing our delight in God with joy in stuff. Materialism is what happens when coveting has cash to spend…covetousness is a form of idol worship (Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5).
He goes on to say this while talking of Luke 12 where a man came to Christ wanting Him to settle a dispute about the family inheritance,
The sin of covetousness is not what we have stuff; it’s that our stuff has us. That’s why, when that man in the crowd interrupted Jesus, he found it so easy to ignore what the Master was teaching and demand a ruling on his belonging. Covetousness blinded him from everything but his momentary object of worship–a family inheritance. The irony is that he was face-to-face with the only One truly worthy of worship, yet all he could see was what he lacked. He had stuff on his mind and wrapped around his heart.
The last quote I’ll share today gives hope to those wrapped in covetousness.
Covetousness may be powerful, but it’s no match for a benevolent Savior.
In the next two posts from this chapter we will look at how covetousness traps us and then how to be on guard against it.
