MATERIALISM,
NATURE OF

WE HAVE got to be the only country in the world that builds storage facilities so that people can rent space to house stuff that their house can no longer hold. We literally pay rent to keep stuff because we accumulate so much. If you want to make some money and you have some money to invest, build a storage facility because people accumulate stuff for stuff’s sake. They don’t take the stuff they no longer can use and share it so somebody else can use it. They accumulate it, save it, and pay rent to keep it. This is the ultimate expression of selfishness—keeping stuff for stuff’s sake. We have things in our homes that we’ll never use again and we just keep them. It’s a shame.612

[Stewardship]

Amos 6:1–7; Luke 12:15; James 5:1–6

A DOCTOR, lawyer, and preacher had a mutual friend who died. They were all in the hospital room when the friend passed away. As the friend lay, taking his final breaths, he said that he had thirty thousand dollars that he wanted buried with him in his casket. He wanted to take his money with him to the grave. He gave ten thousand dollars to the doctor, ten thousand to the lawyer, and ten thousand to the preacher. He requested that at the funeral, each one of them come and place the money in the casket before it was closed.

The doctor, the lawyer, and the preacher all showed up at the funeral. They all three leaned over the casket and put something in. The casket was closed, the interment was accomplished, and they met each other afterward for a cup of coffee to discuss their friend who had died. As they talked, the guilt-ridden doctor couldn’t help but confess. He said, “Well, our friend was my patient for years. I know he wanted me to put the ten thousand dollars in his casket, but I was sure that he would have wanted me to keep a little bit for myself given all the care I’ve provided him over the years. So, I put eight thousand in there, and I kept two thousand for unpaid bills while John was sick.”

The preacher confessed. “Well, I must confess too. John always talked about our church needing a new organ. So, I only put seven thousand dollars in, and I kept three thousand toward our new organ that I know John would want us to have.”

Then the shrewd lawyer spoke up. “Well let me tell you what I did. I kept my ten thousand dollars. Preacher, I went up to the casket and picked up your seven thousand, and doctor, I picked up your eight thousand, and then I wrote our friend out a check for thirty thousand dollars and put that in the casket!”613

[Money; Money, Love of]

1 Tim. 6:10; Heb. 13:5