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For prosperity's blind ease is the cause of all the evils.
- Columbanus, Letter to Pope Boniface (Irish, 7th century)
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
- 1 Timothy 6.9
It is painfully obvious that the idol of materialism cannot satisfy the deep longings of the human soul.
The current recession is a harsh reminder of the false promise and fleeting nature of wealth. And even those who possess wealth in abundance want mainly to acquire more. Wealth and things cannot satisfy and are not worth worshiping.
But Americans are a people who, through all the years of their education, are told they must get a good job so that they can make a good living and enjoy all the good things of life. And eucators, advertizers, and marketers work overtime to persuade us that "good" means "things", without which, in abundance, there can be no hope of happiness.
Christmas is the quintessential season for the worship of this blind idol. No effort is spared to persuade you and me that we need to buy or have one more thing, and there's no better season in which to increase our material wealth than Christmas.
How unlike our King. He became poor, a mere Babe in a manger, yet filled with all the fullness of Deity as He came among us to bring the true riches of heaven and eternal life.
We who would be truly rich - happy, fulfilled, satisfied, and able to be of help to others - must seek the wealth that is above, not the wealth that comes from things.
And we know this. So let us not become distracted during this season of national splurge into thinking that the idol of materialism is our real source of happiness. That false deity will only disappoint, whereas Jesus lifts us daily higher into the riches of the glory and the blessings of everlasting life.
Seek Jesus this season, and always. In Him is wealth that never disappoints.
T. M. Moore, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.