While reading Managing God's Money, by Randy Alcorn, I stumbled upon the chapter about Materialism, and specifically some of its more negative consequences on people and the church. One of the more interesting aspects or side effects of Materialism is that it can cause us to become independent and self-sufficient. The irony is that when talking about it in this category, it's more or less saying, it causes us to break with God or to become independent from God, which, is absolutely not self-sufficient, but those are how we like to think positively about such sinful paths and paths that are often indulged and given positive outlooks in America. More or less, to be financially independent or independent in any category is seen as positive most often than not and few people even want to be around someone that isn't self sufficient and those who're not self sufficient in most categories of their life are also looked down on, especially at work and socially. I say ironically, because being materialistic in this category, is essentially being in love with wealth or money and not God. It is often time strange to think about, because it's usually God who's giving us these materials or blessing us with them, because He's the giver of every good and perfect gift. Interestingly, what seems to happen is that when we do prosper financially, we tend to forget God or to be dependent upon Him, even when He's the one who provided us with the means to now think that we are ok or that we didn't need to pray as much, or simply to forget, because now we no longer needed to beg him on our hands and knees daily for provision or to pay our bills. I've noticed this pattern in my own life, when I'm rich I tend to forget to pray as much, than if I was poor or under some kind of tribulation or trial. We tend to forget God in prosperity, even though He's the maker and sustainer of our prosperity. This happened to Israel and is essentially mentioned in proverbs 30:9, the writer basically says, do not let me become rich and forget you God or become so poor that I would have to steal and dishonor or profane your name. A pattern that more than often seems to continue in the life of believers now. Prosperity can, if we're not careful lead us into idolatry, most often the love of money or wealth or prosperity itself or to essentially worship the god of money, mammon, and we all know the old saying of Christ, that we can't worship God and money/mammon. Often times this will lead to God's wrath in our life or for the believer discipline, in order to get us back on track and to worship Him instead of these false deities that we have created for ourselves. The more important aspect of all of this, is for us not to forget our God in the times that He has provided greatly for us, to not forget him in our prosperity, and to not just seek him in our poverty. May we all praise God in our prosperity and in our poverty, and realize that our father is the make of heaven and earth, and that He gives and takes away, and that those who're faithful with much will be given much, and those to whom much is given, much will be required. May we bless His name and glorify it, may we struggle against the temptation to forget His name in our prosperity and may we realize that independence is a lie and the self sufficiency is stupidity, when we can do nothing outside of our God, and when independent choices are often sin. May we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, so that all these things may be added unto us, and may we not forget that we do not have anything that has not been given to us, Lord help us to fight this temptation that makes us think we're our own makers and creators.
