The Divorcing Series: Materialism By Cortney Donelson

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Last summer while I was in Haiti, someone I greatly respect said something that struck my heart with such force that I still think about it regularly. The mission team members I was traveling with were discussing how vastly voodoo permeates the nation of Haiti, despite it’s overtly Christian culture. As an example, many Christ-followers in Haiti still believe illness and disease can be caused by curses. One woman on our team said something to the effect of, “I don’t understand. They believe in Christ as their Savior and pray daily. Their faith is apparent, perhaps stronger than ours in some cases. But, the traditions and myths of voodoo still saturate their lives.” The ministry founder we were meeting with replied in a beat. When he did, his words stopped us all in our narrowly minded tracks. 

“They would say the same thing about Americans. But, instead of voodoo, they’d be talking about materialism.” 

CLOBBERED

Conviction was immediate for many of us. Just as the philosophy and myths of voodoo invade the Christian households in Haiti and hold people ransom through fear, materialism runs rampant in our American culture, effectively holding our hearts and thoughts ransom while rendering us spiritually diminished. 

Materialism is the tendency to think material objects are more important than people. We could also insert "consumerism" into the story. Consider the “American Dream.” It’s our social ideal that stresses the importance of material prosperity as a priority for living the good life. This “dream” conveys to us that hard work is one of the only ways to achieve this good life, and alternately, the good life can only be achieved when we secure wealth and property. The American Dream distorts the definition of necessity and convinces us the change is okay.

As Christians, we read the Lord’s warning that it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enjoy the Kingdom of God. However, we tend to gloss over that part of Scripture and point to others’ wealth as more dangerous than our own. The median household income across 131 countries is $9,733 per year according to a worldwide Gallup poll. In fact, if you earn at least $32,400 per year, you’ve made the cut into the realm of the wealthy. You are in the top 1% of the world’s income earners. We are the rich men and women Jesus was talking about after he spoke to the wealthy man unwilling to give everything he had to the poor in order to follow Him. Money itself isn’t the problem ... and yet it is. Jesus was clear. We can’t love both. As with any relationship, one will take up more space in our hearts, effectively pushing the other out.

As the mission team sat around that table and considered the comparison this ministry leader had made between materialism and voodoo, the level of conviction I felt shocked me. It was a clear case of our judging others while 2x4 planks were sticking out of our own eyes. Those 2x4s had been preventing us from seeing our own fragile condition – the one where an idol we had not been aware of five minutes beforehand had just materialized (no pun intended). Our possessions. Our desire for material success. Our homes. The things with which we fill our homes. Our vehicles. Our dozens of pairs of shoes. Our hairdryers. Our makeup. Our designer handbags. Our children’s summer camps.  Our private schools. Our coat closets filled with options for every kind of weather. Our pantries and refrigerators stocked with food going bad. Our drive through car washes and coffee shops. Our lawn care services. Our kitchen and bath renovations. Our big screen TVs and our annual smart phone upgrades. All of our “keeping up with the Jones’s” was laid bare on that long, wooden dining table in that Haitian Guest House. 

Are we so acclimated to our own wealthy culture that we don’t see the grip materialism has on our hearts and souls? If Jesus asked us to give everything up, are we so far into the darkness where are hoarded possessions lay that we would say no? It’s a scary thought. It should be. We take so much for granted. 

Others peering into the American Dream see a culture of people willing to replace toys, electronics, cars, and homes on a whim, run water while brushing our teeth or washing our cars without batting an eye, and a culture that by relative comparison, gives little financial support to either the church or those in need. HealthResearchFunding.org reports that for American Christian families making less than $20,000 per year, 8% of them gave at least a 10% tithe. For Christian families making a minimum of $75,000 per year or more, the figure drops to just 1%. One percent! In fact, 37% of Americans who attend church every week and identify themselves as Evangelical don’t give any money to their church at all, let alone a tithe.

Yet, it goes deeper than mere statistics and financial commitments. The question I have been asking myself ever since that morning last summer in Haiti is this: What is the relentless pursuit of my heart? 

What is in the forefront of my mind? What are my short term and long term goals? Is it the next purchase I will make? The next upgrade? The next house project or even the next level of financial security? Do I focus on (can I say worry?) about my prayer life and my relationship with the Lord, or do I worry about paying the bills, saving for the kids’ colleges, and purchasing new window treatments for my bedroom so that “they match the rest of the room I just redecorated.” (I’d like to crawl into a hole right now.)

My desire is that God, His will, His love, and His glory are my relentless pursuits. Are my choices and actions reflective of that pursuit? Not always. Would those outside my culture see my choices and wonder how I could call myself a Christ-follower? Sometimes ... Probably too often. The Lord desires a cheerful giver. Am I cheerful? Am I generous? Lord, I pray so.

But, I must have proof. I cannot get this one wrong. I cannot allow Satan to blind my eyes with the plank of materialism again. The enemy is sneaky. Just as voodoo slithers through the Haitian landscape, materialism can snake it’s way through ours, silent yet deadly. When things matter more than people, we’re married to the wrong ideal. We're in bed with the wrong soul mate. We’ve been “had.” It's not that we shouldn't own anything. It's that nothing should own us. Only someone. Only Christ. 

My goal is to divorce materialism forever. With much blessing comes much responsibility. I don’t want to miss the Kingdom of God by getting stuck in the eye of the needle. 


Prayer: Father God, test our hearts in this area. Help us see our blind spots and when it comes to materialism, convict us when needed. For, it's You we seek and Your glory we want to pursue. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. 

Influenced by Matthew 19:24, Luke 12:48, Ecclesiastes 5:10, Matthew 6:24, 1 Timothy 6:10, Matthew 7:1-5, Psalm 106:36, a discussion in a Haitian Guest House, and God's convicting love. 

©2012-2016 Cortney Donelson. All rights reserved.

Cortney's book, Clay Jar Cracked, is available on Lulu.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other retail sites, and includes print, e-pub, nook, and kindle versions until June 15, 2016. Look for an updated version under New York publisher Morgan James, to be publicly released March 7, 2017 (pre-orders for September 2016 delivery available in July)! Visit www.cortneydonelson.com for more information! To schedule speaking engagements, please email Cortney directly.