I've been trying very hard not to spend any money on myself (with exceptions for food, medicine, etc). Not to save the money, necessarily. I'm trying to give it away. I have learned that you need to be careful when you tell God you want to learn to trust Him with your money, because He will give you lots and lots of opportunities to give it to friends and missionaries and organizations.
Anyway, it hasn't been too hard. Most of my battles have been, "I need khakis. But...I have three pairs of dress pants. I don't really need another. C'mon dress pants, fall to pieces so I can buy something new!" And maybe, "I need new solid colored t-shirts. These all have pit stains. But...I guess I can just not raise my arms."
Then last night, a friend at church told me about her new Nook, and all the awesome things she can do with it.
I was overcome. I immediately got online and saw that they are only $150. I decided to price compare, so I looked at Kindles and then that led me to iPads. Oh man. Price jump to $500. But iPads are so freaking cool. And then I thought about how my computer battery is dead, and would it really be so bad to preemptively get a new MacBook? Surely my computer will completely die soon. Better to be prepared, right? A new computer is, of course, $1,000.
Ridiculous. In half an hour I went from a Biblical financial lifestyle to completely overcome by American materialism. I did back away from the computer, but I almost bought the Nook. Because I travel. And it would be handy. And you can get all the classics for free! And then I remembered that I work in a library. Where everything is free.
But it was still really hard not to buy the Nook. And I still want new shirts. And I want season one of Community.
I'm still so materialistic.
I think the fact that you can re-convince yourself that you don't need these things says that you're not as materialistic as you think you are.
ReplyDeleteWanting things and convincing yourself that you need them are two completely different things. At least that's my opinion--but I've been wrong before. :)
Emily
NO. Do NOT buy a books-on-computer device. They are evil.
ReplyDeleteHere's a question: What would you do if God sent you somewhere (say, politics, though I don't exactly see that in your future. But just say, for the sake of my hypothetical.) where your credibility depended on you being nicely dressed, having a beautiful, three-story house, and driving a car with all the bells and whistles. Howcould you keep from being materialistic? When does it all stop being just stuff and become an ism?
Does that make sense? Just a thought.
Hm. My gut response is that materialism is a heart thing. It's more of a feeling of "oh my gosh I have to own that in order to feel good about myself." I think a really good way to judge materialism is by what your reaction is when something is taken away from you. (Example: when I felt like God was suggesting that I give away my books, I resisted for SIX MONTHS because I loved my books so much...and the fact that I couldn't give them away showed me how much I needed to.)
ReplyDeleteWeirdly enough, Fight Club is a huge influence on my view of materialism. "The things you own end up owning you" and all that.
Also, my recent surge of anti-materialism is in large part because of my time in Africa. I saw how little most of them had (and how little I had), and I realized that I was just as happy as when I am surrounded by gobs of crap.
In addition, I've been made more and more away of poverty, and I really feel like the most awesome thing a Christian could do would be to sell his or her middle-class life and go live amongst the poor. Have I done that? Nope. But I trying to start to change my mind.
Did that at all answer your question? It's a whole lot of explanations, at least.
Oh, and I forgot to mention materialism being bound up in waste. That was the key issue with my computer/book reader scenario.
ReplyDeleteDo I need a book reader? No, I have books. I don't need to prepare for "somewhere down the road when I might live overseas" yet. I can buy one when the need arises.
Do I need a new computer? No, mine works just fine so long as it is plugged in. I can buy a new computer then.
I have no problem with buying things, necessarily. But when you (and I, because I used to do this all the time) buy things just because, and not because I need them, then....that's wasteful, and stupid, and materialistic. In my opinion.
Ah, I see. Just wondering what your thoughts were. I enjoy reading your blog. :)
ReplyDelete