How would you score on a ‘materialistic scale?’ A ‘spiritual’ one?
It did not take but one day for us to gravitate from Thanksgiving to our customary materialistic state. Overnight our culture retrograded from one state of mind to a contrasting different one. There has been more attention focused on Black Friday than on Thanksgiving Thursday.
Shopping in America is an epidemic. There was a time people shopped to live. Now many live to shop. Shopping is a game, it is entertainment, it is a social experience, it is a status setter. Where a person shops and what brands they wear identifies their rank among friends.
The American dream is becoming more and more materialistic. Ellen Goodman has described our ethos as one in which “Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving thorough traffic in a car you are still paying for, in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.” Smart shopping and prudent purchasing are marks of a good shopper. As with most things moderation is expedient. Shopping isn’t inherently bad. As a matter of fact it is expedient. There are shoppers like my wife. I rarely shop, but I like for her to shop. She is a controlled spender who really shops. That is, she looks for timely best buys. She hunts for deals and exercises moderation. That is shopping, not merely purchasing.
I overheard a shopper say, “I don’t buy anything that is not on sale or I really want it.” That throws open a door in the wall of restrained shopping through which a drunk elephant can walk.
Much of which is purchased could be done without. We all need a bit of the mentality of the Quaker who visited his new neighbor, a Baptist, and said, “If thou needest anything let me know and I will tell thee how to do without it.”
When was the last time you purchased one of those “must have” items only for it to be so unused it is hard to find in a month?
With that in mind, it is a good time to gather usable but no longer needed items and take them to thrift or charity closet. It may be just what someone needs and can’t afford at retail price.
A common fallacious belief prevails in America that materialism and happiness are inexorably linked. Contrarily studies reveal that persons who are materialistic compared to nonmaterialists have lower personal and social well being. Reported in “Psychology Today.” “Compulsive and impulsive spending, increased debt, decreased savings, depression, social anxiety, decreased subjective well-being less psychological need satisfaction and other undesirable outcomes have all been linked with materialistic values and materialistic purchasing behaviors.”
A sense of worth, self-acceptance, and peace of mind were found by previous generations in a different source. These admirable qualities were most often found in previous generations in one’s spiritual life. People valued themselves and others not in what they possessed, but in the calm confidence of Who had them in His care.
Materialism can never bring the peace that passes understanding enjoyed by people who evaluate their self-worth and dignity by spiritual, not material standards.
Candidly, how would you score on a “materialistic scale?” Or how about on a “spiritual scale?”
A sure antidote for materialism is, “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.”
The Rev. Dr. Nelson L. Price is pastor emeritus of Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta.