North Athens Baptist Church

We live in a culture that is materialistic to an astonishing degree.  I am constantly amazed,  and disgusted at the lengths people will go to in order to gain more “stuff.”  A popular bumper sticker a few years ago summed up this hedonistic lifestyle: “The one who dies with the most stuff wins.”  But the Bible constantly warns us about the dangers of trying to serve God and money.  Both the Old and New Testament are replete with admonitions to avoid this danger.  In my reading this morning I came across Proverbs 13:8 which says in the ESV: “The ransom of a man’s life is his wealth, but a poor man hears no threat.”  Very simply that verse refers to a kidnaping where a rich man could pay the ransom and be freed, but a poor man would never have to deal with the scenario because no one would kidnap him to start with.  What would be the point?  Maybe the answer to our materialism is as simple as well: want less!  A man once told me that not wanting something is, in many ways, better than having it.  If I have my heart set on a certain kind of car and finally obtain it then I have to worry about wrecking it, or someone stealing it or opening a car door into it at the mall.  But if I am content with the car I have (something that has been exceedingly difficult for me) then I don’t have all that worry.  The apostle Paul had a good word for us in Phil 4:11, “…I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”