Materialism Part II

Genesis 2:12, “The gold of that land is good…”

Genesis 13:2, “Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.”

John 6:7, “Phillip answered Him, ‘Two hundred denarii (days wages) is not sufficient for them to receive a little.”

Matthew 6:33, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these (material) things will be added to you.”

Continuing in my battle for perspective and truth regarding materialism I fully understand that gold, which is nothing more than a storehouse of wealth and formerly used as money, is here on earth created by God and it is good. Godly men of old and new possessed wealth. But one might also argued that there were godly men who also lived in intentional poverty like John the Baptist and some of the prophets. So it is a good thing, but I have a hard time believing that God intended excessive wealth for every Christian or Jew for that matter that gets life right. There is much more argument that there is a promised sufficiency, and even a little more than sufficiency.

So if some are blessed with extraordinary amounts of wealth by God and others not, what is this issue of materialism that has come alive in my spirit? Why can I be so focused on accumulating rewards, rather than focused on the tasks. The English language defines materialism as a desire to accumulate material goods, so if we accumulate goods without having desired to do so are we therefore not materialistic?

I can’t speak for you, but as far as my concern goes my issue with materialism is completely one of priority. Seek first the kingdom of God, Jesus said. Too often I am seeking the paycheck, the reward, or the result. When Rabbi Lapin says, “money is a measure of what one human being does for another” it immediately causes me to think of marketing plans, of how I am inform, trick of otherwise sell my wares… not for the benefit of the consumer mind you, but for an increase in my personal income and consumption. Rabbi Lapin would argue like Christ that if you focus on doing for others the money will naturally follow. 

Lapin said, “we are a spirit in a body.” But as I struggle with materialism I realize that I too often default to the perception that I am a body with a soul. With this thinking I am not in alignment with how God knows me, and more so I allow the body with its desires to overrule or take priorities too often. This is not to say that I am evil, because I am not, but these differences from Christ at this point are keeping the kingdom of God from growing inside of me.

Lapin said something else that is just now starting to hit home in the area of materialism. He said “money is made, not taken.” When someone tried to bless you with some money have you ever said, “I can’t take your money?” If you have then you struggle with the same warped perception that I have.

Money… wealth… is not in any way limited to physical bank notes in the form of dollars and coins. If I am blessed with money through paycheck or gift I have not taken ANYTHING from anyone. At that point it has been “made.”

Let me use Lapin illustration to prove this point. A man knocks on a woman’s door and ask her if she has anything she is not using that she can give away. She replies that there is an old table out back waiting for the garbage man to take away. The man then asks, how much will it cost to haul off.

The woman replies, “$5.00”

The man offers the woman $5.00 for the table to which she gladly agrees. At this point the woman has increased her wealth by $10.00. $5.00 in cash that she received, and $5.00 that she did not have to spend.

The man goes to the hardware store and spends a $1.00 in materials to fix it up. They have now increase by $1.00 or at least the profit of it. He then finds a different woman who is looking for a table. She is planning on spending $20.00 for a table but the man convinces her to buy his for $10.00. Now how much has the $16.00 in cash become in terms of wealth? 

$10 for the first lady plus $1 for the hardware store plus $10 in savings for the second lady plus $4 for the man. $16.00 became $25 of real wealth.

But if we get into the trap that money is taken and not made, then our conscious does not allow us to receive the full blessing of God. We don’t perceive it as something made out of thin air, but rather that we have taken from someone else. Improper thinking is that money is finite, and for us to have it means someone else has to do without. This is very much an issue and subconscious thought process that I am now fighting every day.

To reiterate this point… most money is a number on a page anyway. Are you aware that for every ten cents that you deposit in the bank that the bank can then go out and loan a dollar? And so the bank loans a dollar, borrowing the difference in your deposit and the rest from the Fed. The Fed in turn gets the money from the treasury, who… prints it. You have just been give a micro lesson on GDP. But the spiritual point is money is spiritual as Rabbi Lapin points out. It is not material.

My struggle with materialism is first that my motivation for my work is a paycheck, when it should rather be who can I help today and let the paycheck come. My second struggle is understanding that money coming to my hand is a blessing from God in all its forms and from all its sources… providing of course I didn't steal it somehow. I am not taking money. I am making money. Even when that money is given to me. Better yet, I am not making money, but God is blessing me with it each and every time.   

There is more to all of this and the coming posts will continue with Materialism, Community, & Redemption.