Redefining Femininity - It Makes Me Important

Hello all,

This is another post from Rebeka Fry's series on materielism. In this post, she addresses the deception of "importance" delivered by materielism.

Some may be wondering why we keep posting these posts on materielism, and if you are wondering why, here is a short answer. Materielism is a worldview and mindset that seeks to replace God with things. It's pretty much that simple; and for that reason and the fact that our nation seems gripped by the stranglehold of materielism, we believe this is an extremely important issue. We can't say how glad we are that Rebeka agrees with us and has provided us with all these greats posts. :-)

It Makes Me Important

"For all that is in the world -
the desires of the flesh and the
desires of the eyes and
the pride in possessions -
is not from the Father
but is from the world."
~ 1 John 2:16, ESV

Remember our twin, Mr. Stock Broker, from Luke 12? His life was consumed with his life. Each action was to build up his esteem, taking comfort in the pleasures of this life. Every statement he uttered dripped with self-glorification. The rich fool lived in the world of All About Me.

There's another name for the "it-makes-me-important-" chain; God calls it the pride in possessions. A quote from the New Bible Dictionary inserts a very insightful thought about this verse.

"The two dominant characteristics of 'this world' are pride,
born of man's failure to accept his creaturely estate and
his dependence on the Creator . . .
and covetousness, which causes him to desire and possess
all that is attractive to his physical senses."
~ R. V. G. Tasker ~

If I'm truly at the center of everything (pride), then stuff exists to serve my cravings (covetousness). And if my identity comes from stuff (covetousness), then the amount of stuff I attain makes me important (pride). The dual chains of pride and covetousness always snake around the person who find self-importance in material possessions. The intertwining of the two are as inevitable as they are destructive.

We've all heard the advertisements. "Use this shampoo and your hair will give such a shine that your neighbors will be jealous." Or something like that. It's always a point for advertisers to make us feel that we will somehow be better than our friend if we just buy their product. But pride is never satiated. When we obtain our desire, we then feel superior, sinfully assuming that the product makes us wonderful. Our purchases become a sacrifice to the one we worship - ourselves: "Look at you, you great chum! Here is you much-deserved offering of love!"

Or, in other words, my stuff makes me important.

Thanks very much, Rebeka! If you didn't read her post about materialisms false promise of "happiness," then be sure to follow this link and check it out.

God bless!