The pointlessness of material things...

[Tim Morg]

Hello everyone,

Well, I just needed to get this off my chest. It's been on my mind for a while now and I have learned much from this and thought I'd share with you you all and see what you folks thought.

A little bit about my past: I grew up in poverty. All my life I lived with second hand goods. Used clothes, used toys, cheap food, etc… The rest of my family didn’t have it any better. My parents owned some of the most beat up used cars that would make the funniest noises or put out the oddest smells. I remember one of the weirdest and most embarrassing cars we owned. It was a 1984 Oldsmobile cutlass supreme. And no, it wasn’t embarrassing because it was an Oldsmobile, it was embarrassing because of the noise it would make every time we parked the car and turned off the engine. The car would seriously jolt around in its parking spot and start making this chugging noise followed by a loud “CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK” before it would finally settle down. The whole process would last for 30 seconds. But that wasn’t the end of it. To top it off there would be this rotten egg smell that would slowly build around the car afterwards and linger around for a good five minutes. Needless to say every time we parked, people noticed and glared.

I was about 10 years old when our family owned this car. It was at this stage in my life that I started to develop insecurities of being like everyone else. I started to care about being popular, about being accepted and about fitting in and portraying the image of worth that the world had established. This included having brand name clothes, a nice hair cut, and of course, having my family own expensive cars. My mom didn’t have the insecurities I did. In fact I believe she had, and still has, no shame of our poverty. These are great qualities for a person to have and looking back I am so glad I have a mother who lives this way, (Thank you, God). But back then it was the worst trait my mother could have, at least I thought it was.

Imagine, if you can, having to go to a popular shopping center with your mother on a busy Saturday morning a week before the start of the new school year. Around this time everyone you know is out shopping with their parents to get new clothes and supplies for the coming year. The mall we went to was located in an affluent part of town. Many people in my neighborhood were very rich. Most of the students at my school came from these rich families and they also shopped at this mall. During that time the mall was being remodeled so the main entrance served as the only entrance. My mother being the savvy woman she is, lingered in the packed parking lot waiting for someone to leave so she could find a parking spot close to the entrance. I begged her to just park at the back of the lot because I didn’t want anyone to see and HEAR our arrival but she said she didn’t want to walk so far because she was already feeling tired and the weather was very hot that day. I knew she wanted to park up close to the entrance and I didn’t want her to so I sat there dreading what I knew was coming. In desperation I remember telling my mother, “Mom, I have to go to the bathroom really bad. Can we just park in the back?” She being a caring mother gave in. I remember saying to myself, “Yes! I don’t have to go through the embarrassment!” As soon as my mother started to make her way to the back of the lot, someone was pulling out of a parking spot just in front of the main entrance. My heart sank into my stomach since I knew my mother would park there.

As my mother was making her way to the spot I quickly scanned the area to see if anyone I knew was there. As fate would have it, all of the ‘cool’ guys at my school were there in their soccer uniforms coming out of the mall with orange julius drinks in their hand. Mixed within the crowd was a girl I had a crush on at the time. To my horror they all made their way towards the parking lot to head back home. As they approached our car my mother killed the engine and got out. Sure enough the car started to chug and sputter. Everyone and I mean everyone, stopped to witness the show. As the car started to really get into its dance the kids started to laugh and point. As soon as they recognized that the thoroughly horrified kid sitting dead still in the car was me, they started to laugh even more. From that point on everyday at school I was made fun of for the car my family owned. It was a hard thing to go through and I vowed that one day I would make up for that event.

Scan forward to present time. Growing up through the years I have always wanted a sports car because I am a fan of driving and always dreamed of racing cars. Since I received my license many years ago I have driven an old beat up car with less than 98 horsepower. As you could guess this car really didn’t meet up to the performance standard I craved for. Nor did it meet the social standard that I was trying to achieve. During the past years I have worked and saved up enough money to finally purchase an expensive car. At this point I evaluated where my life was and how my future looked. I decided to go ahead with the purchase because I felt that I deserved something nice for once in my life and because I believed my humble beginnings would allow me to own such a car and still be able to live the Christian life. I also took into consideration my current car. It was falling apart. The clear coat on the paint was chipping off, the muffler was damaged, and the car started to exhibit signs that it would soon start making noise like our old Oldsmobile did. There was no way I was going to go through that again!

So I went ahead and got the car. I thought that I would be able to enjoy the performance. To enjoy the raw power, the high speeds, the go kart like handling, and I would finally be able to go places in style and never have to worry about what people thought of my car and of myself ever again! Heh. So much for that.

Since I’ve had the car I have learned much about life. Sure these are lessons we all have heard before but there is nothing like learning it first hand because that’s when it really sinks in, (well at lest it does for me). You would be surprised how deprived some people are. I would drive down some random street observing the speed limit and people would pull up behind me and honk at me because they think I am going to slow and as they pass me they shout out, “with a car like that you can drive faster, you $##@!” Cops pull you over for no reason at all because they assume a young man with a car like that must have either stolen it or is doing something illegal to afford it. Friends who used to like you start to get jealous and they start to treat you differently. And ‘friends’ you haven’t seen in ages come out of the wood work asking for a ride or to let them drive the car and as soon as they get what they want, they leave your life again.

Of course there are positive things too. Not. I thought getting compliments would make me feel better but it’s so lacking and hollow. Without the car I would be nothing to them. It is not me they appreciate, it is the car. They never ask about you and who you are, they ask about the car and what you do to afford it. I’m sure some guys would love this. There have been a few women who lust after you because of the car. They think you are rich or hot because of the car you drive. There have been women who are married who have hit on me and girls who have boyfriends who give me their number. This car brings out the worst in people. It brings out everything I am not and it attracts people I wish to have nothing to do with. Every teen and their car wants to race you at every stop. A bunch of people look and get jealous and so you have to start worrying about them doing something to your car out of jealously. And there are other things as well. I have to park the car far away from the places I go to avoid the attention and to avoid people opening their doors carelessly and denting the car. I have to spend more money for insurance, car payments, and a bunch of gas. I have to spend a lot of time to clean the car and to perform the high level of maintenance the car requires as well as having to find the energy to deal with a bunch of people who try to use you or hate you for the car.

In the end it’s so true. Material things do not satisfy and the things you own end up owning you. The other day I got back into my old car to take it out for a drive. I missed that car. I missed being able to go places with out worries. Without running into people who want to use you. Without having to wonder what kind of image I am showing to the world. Without the guilt of knowing how God feels about your purchase and how it really reflects on your walk with him. I wish with all my heart I could go back and do things differently. I look back to the days where my mother drove around that beat up car and how it attracted attention to her and how she used that embarrassing car to show people it’s not about what you own but about who you are and about who God is in her life and how her happiness isn’t tied to material things but to eternal things that have true value and are everlasting. My car will be old in a few years. I’m sure it will be considered old before my payments are done. It’s just total vanity and stupidity.

I guess what I want to get across to people is that material things do not give you pleasure. It will not fill the void you have. It will not make up for your insecurities. It will only leaving you feeling more empty and lacking than before. I think Solomon said it best in Ecc.5:8-20

8 If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still. 9 The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields. 10 Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. 11 As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them? 12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep. 13 I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner, 14 or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when he has a son there is nothing left for him. 15 Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand. 16 This too is a grievous evil: As a man comes, so he departs, and what does he gain, since he toils for the wind? 17 All his days he eats in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger. 18 Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him-for this is his lot. 19 Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work-this is a gift of God. 20 He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.

Wealth deprives the poor when it is wasted on yourself. Material things and wealth never satisfies. It attracts the wrong attention and causes you grief. And in the end the things you own will get old and when you die, all of it will be left behind and when you get to heaven, those things will not be there.
Folks, save your money. Use is in a wiser way. Instead of using that money to buy this car, I wish I could have used it to help those who have little. To help those who are driving around old beat up cars, (like my mother used to drive), and help them fix it up or get into something better. And for those who want to improve your image though material things, you wouldn’t care about what people thought about you if you would just realize how little they do think about you in the first place. In the end, I am not happy. I wish I could drive my old car again and just be free to live my life for God and focus my mind on him and his will for my life. Think twice folks. Material things only frustrate those who strive to obtain them and it deprives those who own it. True happiness only comes from trusting and obeying the Lord.

 

[LifeInYou]

because it was an Oldsmobile, it was embarrassing because of the noise it would make every time we parked the car and turned off the engine. The car would seriously jolt around in its parking spot and start making this chugging noise followed by a loud “CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK” before it would finally settle down. The whole process would last for 30 seconds..

lol....reminds me of 'Uncle Buck'

True happiness only comes from trusting and obeying the Lord.

Amen!

Over the last few months I've been learning to let go of more and more of the things I own. Currently, I am selling a lot of my stuff at various rummage sales so I can go on a mission trip. I'd rather have a true, refined, God-fearing, Christ-like character than material items galore (and no character at all) any day.

 

[klewlis]

So sell the car and buy something more middle-of-the-road.

 

[William Nunn]

Too true. Material posessions are fleeting - and growing up in a somewhat similar situation, I can honestly say that it has helped me to see that new toys aren't what I need to be happy.

 

[wvmtnkid]

Very good insight. Wealth and things aren't what leads to happiness and a good feeling about yourself. Salvation is free, not cheap, but free for all. That's a price tag that we all need to be familiar (and concerned) with.

And I agree with klewlis. If this car is bothering you, maybe you could consider selling it and buying a different car and putting the savings to work in some of the ways you described. It's not to late. Don't let this epiphany go to waste!

 

[Blake]

Well said Tim! If only I could get my mother to realize this....

 

[72_Chev_Truck]

What kind of car do you have anywho? mustang, camaro, certainly not a corvette. insurance of those cars would kill most people. I know what you mean about peeps using you for your vehicle, but I tend to offer help when I can just as long as they dont ask to borrow my trucks. I figure ive put way too much money into them to let others just borrow. I dont think that is materialistic is it? having a nice vehicle and trying to take care of it the best you can? it may be idolatry in some cases though.

 

[klewlis]

there's nothing inherently wrong with having a nice vehicle--in fact, in some ways it is better stewardship to pay more for a car that will last longer, have lower emissions, etc, because the long-term benefits of a quality car are worth the price.

The problem only appears when the car (like any possession) becomes a problem relationally or in regards to a type of idolatry.

 

[Grommit]

Trust me. I know he's working on finding a way to get out of the car. hehe.

*laughs to himself*

 

[choceo]

Tim...what a great testimony..so many of the youth that I work with are so caught up in materialism and the "bling-bling" mentality that has corrupted most popular music...

Sticking to this theme, below is an excerpt from one of my favorite books "The Pursuit of God" by A.W. Tozer. I just thought i'd share this with you and any one else who'd like to read it...

Chap. 2 : The Blessedness of Posessing Nothing

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matt. 5:3

Before the Lord God made man upon the earth He first prepared for him by creating a world of useful and pleasant things for his sustenance and delight. In the Genesis account of the creation these are called simply `things.' They were made for man's uses, but they were meant always to be external to the man and subservient to him. In the deep heart of the man was a shrine where none but God was worthy to come. Within him was God; without, a thousand gifts which God had showered upon him.
But sin has introduced complications and has made those very gifts of God a potential source of ruin to the soul.

Our woes began when God was forced out of His central shrine and `things' were allowed to enter. Within the human heart `things' have taken over. Men have now by nature no peace within their hearts, for God is crowned there no longer, but there in the moral dusk stubborn and aggressive usurpers fight among themselves for first place on the throne.

This is not a mere metaphor, but an accurate analysis of our real spiritual trouble. There is within the human heart a tough fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets `things' with a deep and fierce passion. The pronouns `my' and `mine' look innocent enough in print, but their constant and universal use is significant. They express the real nature of the old Adamic man better than a thousand volumes of theology could do. They are verbal symptoms of our deep disease. The roots of our hearts have grown down into things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have become necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God's gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution.

Our Lord referred to this tyranny of things when He said to His disciples, `If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it.' (Matt. 16:24-25).

Breaking this truth into fragments for our better understanding, it would seem that there is within each of us an enemy which we tolerate at our peril. Jesus called it `life' and `self,' or as we would say, the self-life. Its chief characteristic is its possessiveness: the words `gain' and `profit' suggest this. To allow this enemy to live is in the end to lose everything. To repudiate it and give up all for Christ's sake is to lose nothing at last, but to preserve everything unto life eternal. And possibly also a hint is given here as to the only effective way to destroy this foe: it is by the Cross: `Let him take up his cross and follow me.'

The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and abnegation of all things. The blessed ones who possess the Kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing. They are `poor in spirit.' They have reached an inward state paralleling the outward circumstances of the common beggar in the streets of Jerusalem; that is what the word `poor' as Christ used it actually means. These blessed poor are no longer slaves to the tyranny of things. They have broken the yoke of the oppressor; and this they have done not by fighting but by surrendering. Though free from all sense of possessing, they yet possess all things. `Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'

Let me exhort you to take this seriously. It is not to be understood as mere Bible teaching to be stored away in the mind along with an inert mass of other doctrines. It is a marker on the road to greener pastures, a path chiseled against the steep sides of the mount of God. We dare not try to by-pass it if we would follow on in this holy pursuit. We must ascend a step at a time. If we refuse one step we bring our progress to an end.

As is frequently true, this New Testament principle of spiritual life finds its best illustration in the Old Testament. In the story of Abraham and Isaac we have a dramatic picture of the surrendered life as well as an excellent commentary on the first Beatitude.

Abraham was old when Isaac was born, old enough indeed to have been his grandfather, and the child became at once the delight and idol of his heart. From that moment when he first stooped to take the tiny form awkwardly in his arms he was an eager love slave of his son. God went out of His way to comment on the strength of this affection. And it is not hard to understand. The baby represented everything sacred to his father's heart: the promises of God, the covenants, the hopes of the years and the long messianic dream. As he watched him grow from babyhood to young manhood the heart of the old man was knit closer and closer with the life of his son, till at last the relationship bordered upon the perilous. It was then that God stepped in to save both father and son from the consequences of an uncleansed love.

`Take now thy son,' said God to Abraham, `thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.' (Gen 22:2) The sacred writer spares us a close-up of the agony that night on the slopes near Beersheba when the aged man had it out with his God, but respectful imagination may view in awe the bent form and convulsive wrestling alone under the stars. Possibly not again until a Greater than Abraham wrestled in the Garden of Gethsemane did such mortal pain visit a human soul. If only the man himself might have been allowed to die. That would have been easier a thousand times, for he was old now, and to die would have been no great ordeal for one who had walked so long with God. Besides, it would have been a last sweet pleasure to let his dimming vision rest upon the figure of his stalwart son who would live to carry on the Abrahamic line and fulfill in himself the promises of God made long before in Ur of the Chaldees.

How should he slay the lad! Even if he could get the consent of his wounded and protesting heart, how could he reconcile the act with the promise, `In Isaac shall thy seed be called'? This was Abraham's trial by fire, and he did not fail in the crucible. While the stars still shone like sharp white points above the tent where the sleeping Isaac lay, and long before the gray dawn had begun to lighten the east, the old saint had made up his mind. He would offer his son as God had directed him to do, and then trust God to raise him from the dead. This, says the writer to the Hebrews, was the solution his aching heart found sometime in the dark night, and he rose `early in the morning' to carry out the plan. It is beautiful to see that, while he erred as to God's method, he had correctly sensed the secret of His great heart. And the solution accords well with the New Testament Scripture, `Whosoever will lose... for my sake shall find...'

God let the suffering old man go through with it up to the point where He knew there would be no retreat, and then forbade him to lay a hand upon the boy. To the wondering patriarch He now says in effect, `It's all right, Abraham. I never intended that you should actually slay the lad. I only wanted to remove him from the temple of your heart that I might reign unchallenged there. I wanted to correct the perversion that existed in your love. Now you may have the boy, sound and well. Take him and go back to your tent. Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.'

Then heaven opened and a voice was heard saying to him, `By myself I have sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.'

The old man of God lifted his head to respond to the Voice, and stood there on the mount strong and pure and grand, a man marked out by the Lord for special treatment, a friend and favorite of the Most High. Now he was a man wholly surrendered, a man utterly obedient, a man who possessed nothing. He had concentrated his all in the person of his dear son, and God had taken it from him. God could have begun out on the margin of Abraham's life and worked inward to the center; He chose rather to cut quickly to the heart and have it over in one sharp act of separation. In dealing thus He practiced an economy of means and time. It hurt cruelly, but it was effective.

I have said that Abraham possessed nothing. Yet was not this poor man rich? Everything he had owned before was still his to enjoy: sheep, camels, herds, and goods of every sort. He had also his wife and his friends, and best of all he had his son Isaac safe by his side. He had everything, but he possessed nothing. There is the spiritual secret. There is the sweet theology of the heart which can be learned only in the school of renunciation. The books on systematic theology overlook this, but the wise will understand.

After that bitter and blessed experience I think the words `my' and `mine' never had again the same meaning for Abraham. The sense of possession which they connote was gone from his heart. things had been cast out forever.They had now become external to the man. His inner heart was free from them. The world said, `Abraham is rich,' but the aged patriarch only smiled. He could not explain it to them, but he knew that he owned nothing, that his real treasures were inward and eternal.

There can be no doubt that this possessive clinging to things is one of the most harmful habits in the life. Because it is so natural it is rarely recognized for the evil that it is; but its outworkings are tragic. We are often hindered from giving up our treasures to the Lord out of fear for their safety; this is especially true when those treasures are loved relatives and friends. But we need have no such fears. Our Lord came not to destroy but to save. Everything is safe which we commit to Him, and nothing is really safe which is not so committed.

Our gifts and talents should also be turned over to Him. They should be recognized for what they are, God's loan to us, and should never be considered in any sense our own. We have no more right to claim credit for special abilities than for blue eyes or strong muscles. `For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?'

The Christian who is alive enough to know himself even slightly will recognize the symptoms of this possession malady, and will grieve to find them in his own heart. If the longing after God is strong enough within him he will want to do something about the matter. Now, what should he do?

First of all he should put away all defense and make no attempt to excuse himself either in his own eyes or before the Lord. Whoever defends himself will have himself for his defense, and he will have no other; but let him come defenseless before the Lord and he will have for his defender no less than God Himself. Let the inquiring Christian trample under foot every slippery trick of his deceitful heart and insist upon frank and open relations with the Lord.

Then he should remember that this is holy business. No careless or casual dealings will suffice. Let him come to God in full determination to be heard. Let him insist that God accept his all, that He take things out of his heart and Himself reign there in power. It may be he will need to become specific, to name things and people by their names one by one. If he will become drastic enough he can shorten the time of his travail from years to minutes and enter the good land long before his slower brethren who coddle their feelings and insist upon caution in their dealings with God.

Let us never forget that such a truth as this cannot be learned by rote as one would learn the facts of physical science. They must be experienced before we can really know them. We must in our hearts live through Abraham's harsh and bitter experiences if we would know the blessedness which follows them. The ancient curse will not go out painlessly; the tough old miser within us will not lie down and die obedient to our command. He must be torn out of our heart like a plant from the soil; he must be extracted in agony and blood like a tooth from the jaw. He must be expelled from our soul by violence as Christ expelled the money changers from the temple. And we shall need to steel ourselves against his piteous begging, and to recognize it as springing out of self-pity, one of the most reprehensible sins of the human heart.

If we would indeed know God in growing intimacy we must go this way of renunciation. And if we are set upon the pursuit of God He will sooner or later bring us to this test. Abraham's testing was, at the time, not known to him as such, yet if he had taken some course other than the one he did, the whole history of the Old Testament would have been different. God would have found His man, no doubt, but the loss to Abraham would have been tragic beyond the telling. So we will be brought one by one to the testing place, and we may never know when we are there. At that testing place there will be no dozen possible choices for us; just one and an alternative, but our whole future will be conditioned by the choice we make.

Father, I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all Those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shalt Thou make the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there. In Jesus' name, Amen

 

[HoosierCanuck]

Wow! I clicked on this one just out of curiosity and I have to put my two cents in (actually, it'll probably be more like a quarter...but anyway....). I got my driver's license in 1987 after I got a part-time job in high school. I had to wait until I could afford insurance, car, etc... on my own because my parents couldn't afford it. Ever since then I've been everyone's free chauffer it seems.

In 1994 I bought a '93 Mustang. It was my 'dream' car at the time (except it wasn't convertible! lol!). Suddenly, my one friend that I hang out with was all excited about us going all kinds of places (because I had reliable transportation). Well, as the years passed and I've put over 172,000 miles on this thing (I still have this car w/ it's original engine!!) and things have started falling apart on it, my friend doesn't show much interest in wanting to go places anymore. If we do travel further than the nearest town, we have to take her vehicle and usually I am the one to drive it because she doesn't like to drive on highways and/or places she isn't familiar with (she grew up and still lives in a very small hick town). To make matters worse, I find myself trying to rebuild credit I ruined in my 20's because I agreed to be irresponsible and do this and buy that. Now, I'm in need of a newer, more reliable vehicle and I can't do it. However, if by some chance I would be able to get a newer, more reliable mode of transportation...the whole 'let's go do this and that' would start up all over again. It's almost like it was okay to rack up the miles on my car and wear it out and so on but it's not okay the other way around (not that I would purposely do that to anyone). I've been friends with this person for over 20 years and she's about the only person in my age group who isn't married and/or has children so she's cool to hang out with and she has a lot of the same personal issues. However, in some way I feel a little hurt and used by things that have transpired over the last few years. So, I guess we all learn from our mistakes.