Earlier this week I wrote about my new iPhone getting delayed. It was supposed to get delivered on Tuesday but didn’t show up until Wednesday. Yesterday was my first full day with my new phone and it failed to meet my expectations. I mean it was really nice to not have to worry about my battery whenever my phone wasn’t plugged in, but that was about it.
I thought that my life would be completely transformed with a new iPhone 7 Plus. I mean how could it not? Our cell phones have become an integral part of our lives and a new phone should open us up to entirely new experiences. However, when it came down to it, my new phone didn’t really impact my day that much. I still went to work, I was too busy to really even look at my phone and my phone couldn’t do anything about traffic.
That’s really the problem with most material items. We crave, we save and when we finally get what we want, it leaves us wanting. When we’re longing for some material object, we think about how much better our lives will be when we get it. This week for me it was a phone, next week it will probably be an Apple Watch. No object, though, can deliver on the hope we place in it.
None of this is rocket science and if we’ve followed Jesus for any amount of time we understand that materialism is bad. However, as easy a lesson as it is to learn, it’s a difficult lesson to live out. Heck, I’m writing this post right now when earlier this week I couldn’t think of anything else but my new phone.
We always need reminders of even the simplest lessons. Just because we learned something in Sunday school doesn’t mean we don’t need to come back to that lesson again and again. Lessons on materialism are especially relevant during this season when we’re told that our loved ones won’t love us back unless we buy them a Lexus with a big, red bow.
What material object failed to satisfy you?
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