How to Break Your Addiction to Stuff

BIG Idea: Giving is the only antidote to greed.

The behemoth of Black Friday is behind us, and as the graphic so aptly states, only in America do we trample each other for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what we already have. Now that Black Friday has been pushed back into Thursday, we don’t even wait a day. Underlying our consumer mentality is pure, unadulterated greed.

We want more, we need more. We feel we’re complete until we see an advertisement with something newer and shinier. The American marketplace needs us addicted to stuff to fuel profits. PBS recently ran a documentary on materialism. Here’s what they found:

• The average American shops six hours a week while spending forty minutes playing with his children.
• By age twenty, we’ve seen one million commercials.
• Recently, more Americans declared bankruptcy than graduated from college.
• In 90 percent of divorce cases, arguments about money play a prominent role.

All this for the pursuit of money. If you stop long enough, you know that money can’t buy true happiness. So how can you break your addiction to materialism and money and stuff? Jesus himself shares how in Matthew 6:19-20, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

If you want to break your addiction to money, you’ve got to learn how to give it away. Until you do, money will own you. By learning how to give it away (to great causes like the local church, people in need, or great non-profits), you’re storing up for yourselves treasures in heaven and you’re breaking the power that money has over you. Here’s the BIG Idea: Giving is the only antidote to greed.

So as we enter into the materialistic orgy formally known as the Christmas season, don’t be caught up in the lie that more stuff will make you happier. Break your addiction to stuff by learning how to give it away. Trust me, when you’re in heaven enjoying all those rewards for eternity, you’ll thank me.