It’s Just Stuff

I saw a clever storage bin commercial on TV some years ago.  A mom and her children were in their family room in the midst of clutter, and the mom forlornly asked “What are we gonna do with all this stuff?”  “Ding, Ding!” – The light went off in her head!  She bought large plastic storage bins, and in a whirlwind of flurry, the family filled the bins with their clutter, and stacked them neatly away.  Then mom pondered aloud, “Now, what are we going to do with all this space?”  In an instant, they all said,

“Let’s go buy more stuff!”

Candice Watters, guest speaker at our Women’s Conference in March, addressed “brand love” with a quote from a lady who said: “Diet Coke is my boyfriend.”  Do we engage in relationships with “brands” instead of abiding in Christ?  Are we preoccupied with patterns of consumerism?  I had a friend several years ago that had a small sign posted by her back door that said “If I’m not at home, try WalMart.” Have things become substitutes for bearing fruit in our lives? Have they become worthless idols?  Candice posed this question: “Are we allowing our needs to be met in things created, rather than in our Creator?” Philippians 3:8 says“What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ.”(NIV)

Perhaps we need to set our sights (turn our compasses northward as it were) toward Christ, and not get caught in the brand name frenzy that attacks from every venue in our lives: window-shopping, TV commercials, infomercials, billboards, Amazon and eBay, between the pages of magazine covers, and even end cap displays in the grocery store!

2 Peter 1:3 – “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (NIV)  Romans 11:36 – “For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”(NIV)

-Karen Sizemore

This is the second in a series of five blog posts that will recap the 2014 Women’s Conference: Fruitfulness: A Life Connected to the Vine.  If you’d like to listen to the audio recordings of all the Conference sessions, you can access them here.

Karen Oldham Sizemore was a PK for 21 years, was born again as a teen, was a multi-move military wife for 24 years, has lived the civilian life since 1994, and is now a senior citizen.  (You can do the math.) She is the mother of 2 grown sons, has been a member of NAOBC for 12 years, and has loved directing children’s choirs for 40+ years.