Pushing Back on Materialism 3

All this week we’re looking at strategies for addressing our bent towards materialism. . . a bent that rears it’s ugly head quite frequently during the Christmas season. Today, I want to encourage you to let your kids know that they are rich.  I grew up thinking I was poor. There are numerous reasons for that, the most basic being that I saw myself as having less than those who had more, rather than one who had more than those who had less.  We all do that don’t we? Then I learned my position in line if the world’s population was lined up from richest to poorest. I, along with you, would be standing in the front two percent of the line. We’ve been fooled and we’ve been fooling ourselves if we think we are poor. The bottom line is that we are rich. Once you communicate that fact to your kids, spend some time looking at what the old and new testaments have to say about the dangers of wealth, and the God-given responsibilities of those who have been given much.