The Desire to Acquire

12 November 2010 by Barb Julian.

      Adam Hamilton admits to believing he needs, and knows that he wants, the newest technological “toy”.  He is able to buy, has a credit card in his pocket, can purchase now and pay later, and so succumbs to both “affluenza” and “credititis” (definitions on pp 15 and 16 of Enough).  One of Pastor Hamilton’s key staff members in charge of raising funds for the programs of the Church of the Resurrection admits to never wanting to shop and spend, so tends to save so much that too many like him would stifle the local economic scene.  Neither “cheap-itis” nor “affluenza” produces contentment.   Neither produces freedom of the kind we celebrate this week…living in a land where liberties of speech, action, assembly, belief, worship, and personal welfare are deemed worth defending.   Neither offers hope, extends a hand, nor models a positive, balanced way of living.

How did we come by this sense of urgent, must do, must have, right now, behavior?

Is the world really different than in prior generations when patience, deliberate planning, and intentional priorities informed financial decisions?

Hamilton suggests the issue is spiritual.  He offers that we are turning further and further from the God-centered way that marked earlier generations….that our wholeness in the image of God is broken and distorted, so we are separated from God, which is sin.  According to Craig Gay:  “The most serious indictment we must level at contemporary consumer behavior is that it is ’spiritless’.  It betrays a decision to sacrifice all noble and truly human aspirations at the altars of comfort, convenience, and safety.”  Hamilton would add pleasure—just trying to feel happy, at any cost, in this rough and tumble, rude and uncertain, vulnerable and anxiety producing, accelerating and depersonalized world.

So, what can be done to get off the merry-go-round?

–Turn around, walk away from the materialism and walk toward God, that’s repentence.

–Re-turn daily to dedicate our lives to being Jesus followers.  Followers, disciples of the Way.

–Appropriate the truth that relationships are what sustain us and don’t rust or wear out.  Allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, recalling Jesus’ Way for our times,  until we seem to be re-lit from within…sense a calling to be more than we thought we could.   We are called to Jesus’ simplicity, faith-fullness, and lavish generosity.   We are called to be purposeful, seeking ways to make things better, with our gifts, time, talent, presence, and witness.    When we accept Jesus’ gift of freedom and forgiveness each day, pray, and seek to grow, the Holy Spirit speaks (sometimes in just a whisper) wisdom to ours about what God is calling us to be and do.

What does call look like with regard to our financial resources?  With God’s help we critically listen to what Madison Avenue is telling us, then reject most of it for the satisfaction and restraint of deciding for ourselves.   We buy what we can pay for without incurring new debt, we take responsibility for overspending and make a specific plan to pay off our debts, we make sure that there are funds set aside for emergencies, and we cultivate the habit of simplicity and living below our means.  With discipline, we are transformed, rightly focused,  and freed to be generous and open handed, giving hope, touching others, and letting God’s light shine through us into the world.

God delights when we are free to choose, like Jesus.

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