Day 29 — Wanting More Stuff

“And He said to them, ‘Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’”

— Luke 12:15 (BSB)

It starts with an ad, or a friend’s new phone, or a video of someone unboxing trainers you’ll never afford. Suddenly what you have feels old. You weren’t unhappy this morning. Now you are. You start counting what you don’t have.

Wanting things isn’t new. But never before has the wanting been delivered so efficiently. Your feed knows what you looked at yesterday and shows you more of it today. Whole industries are built on one goal: making you feel that you’re missing something.

Jesus said something that cuts straight through that: “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Notice every form. Greed isn’t just a rich man counting gold. It can look like envy of a classmate’s clothes, sulking because your parents can’t afford what your cousins have, spending every coin as soon as it arrives, or simply never feeling you have enough.

Jesus then told a story about a farmer whose harvest was so big he planned to build bigger barns and take life easy. “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’” The problem wasn’t the harvest. It was that he was “not rich toward God.”

The writer of Ecclesiastes noticed the same trap: “He who loves money is never satisfied by money.” There’s always a newer model.

So is the answer to hate stuff? No. Paul says God “richly provides all things for us to enjoy.” Enjoying a good meal, a gift from your grandmother or a phone that works isn’t sin. The question is what you’re trusting in, and what has a grip on your heart.

Here are some ways to loosen that grip.

Learn contentment. “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, so we cannot carry anything out of it.” Contentment isn’t pretending you don’t want anything. It’s deciding that God and what He’s given are enough for today.

Say thank you on purpose. Gratitude and greed can’t share a heart for long. Count what you have before you count what you don’t.

Notice your triggers. If certain accounts always leave you wanting, unfollow them. That’s not legalism. It’s wisdom.

Give something away. Jesus watched a poor widow drop two tiny coins into the temple treasury and said she “has put more than all the others.” Generosity isn’t for rich people. It starts with whatever is in your hand.

John Wesley, the English preacher, gave Christians three rules for money that still work: earn all you honestly can, save all you can by not wasting it, and give all you can. He lived on very little and gave the rest away, even as his income grew.

Whether your family has plenty or struggles to pay for school, your life doesn’t consist in what you own. It consists in being known and loved by God, and that can’t be repossessed.

Think about it: What’s one thing you’ve been wanting badly recently? What do you think it would really give you?

Try this: For one day, every time you catch yourself wanting something, thank God for something you already have. And give one thing away this week: money, food, time or something you own.

Go deeper: Sermons on Several Occasions by John Wesley — in his famous sermon on money, Wesley says the fault “does not lie in the money, but in them that use it,” and gives three plain rules: “Gain all you can,” “save all you can,” and “give all you can.” Start with chapter 51, “The Use of Money”.

Lord, I confess that I often want more, and that what I have doesn’t always feel like enough. Guard my heart against every form of greed. Teach me to be content and grateful, and to enjoy what You give without being owned by it. Make me rich toward You and generous to others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.