Let these facts sink in for just a moment.

Over three billion people live on less than $ 2.50 per day.
1.1 billion people have inadequate access to clean water.
2.6 billion lack basic sanitation.

Now let these facts sink in.

Shopping centers in the USA surpassed high schools in 1987.
The average size of the American home has more than doubled over the past 50 years.
One of every 10 households rents a storage unit to house their excess belongings.

God has blessed America no doubt, and with every possession we purchased it cost us dearly.  Many have forgotten Him and focused on buying more “stuff.”   I write about this often for the trend continues.  The possessions mount and spirituality continues to slide.  There are too many distractions from the more important things in life.  Sound congregations are without enough funding, but we keep building bigger and buying more.

We buy to make ourselves feel better.  In reality, buying will not fill a soul which is devoid of God, and ultimately will not make one content.  Man will worship something.  It is innate in his being.  So it is either worshiping our Creator, things, education, or worldly pleasures.  The choice is up to us.  We cannot serve both.

“No man can serve two masters:  for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other, Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”   Matthew 6:24

Mammon is material wealth or possessions.  There is nothing wrong with possessions, but they are not to be placed before God.
Some buy their children more “stuff’ to compensate for lack of attention and being away from home.  Children’s spiritual lives may be sacrificed for the sake of having more “stuff.”

I have known parents who wouldn’t miss a practice or a ballgame if their life depended on it.  They literally spend hours each week during baseball and football season practicing for games.  The games then take even more time.  The amount of money spent on some worldly pursuits is astonishing.  Lately, the new trend is out of town games.  Even for the youngest of children.  Come Lord’s day, sorry, we need our rest.  The spiritual lives of many children, as well as the parents, is neglected.

I had a co-worker die earlier this year.  I was told this person’s house was so cluttered people could barely get in the door.  A “hoarder.”  No one knew.  I do have a theory about it, however.  A person becomes lonely with no purpose in life but work.  They begin to buy and try to fill a hole in themselves which lacks a moral compass.  Their lives are filled with many mundane things but there is no meaning or higher purpose.  It is a spiritual problem manifested by continual buying.  A person is satisfied for a few moments and then buys again to fill the empty space.  I could be wrong in this assessment, and there may be other factors which enter into the disorder.  But the one or two I have known, in my view, were of this category.

If we want enrichment and a satisfying life, become a Christian and live for Him.  It is not always easy being a Christian, but it is the most satisfying and purposeful lives we can live in this world.

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal.”   Matthew 6:19-21

“You buy furniture.  You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life.  Buy the sofa.  Then for a couple of years you’re satisfied that no matter what goes wrong at least you’ve got your sofa issue handled.  Then the right set of dishes.  Then the perfect bed.  The rug.  Then you’re trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now own you.”      ~ Chuck Palaniuk