I recently read an article about designer furniture on a domestic flight in China.

In summary:

1) The wealthy in China have property and technology,
2) Furniture will be the next status symbol, and
3) Buying furniture from China is unacceptable (this is ironic considering where the rest of the world buys its furniture).

The article informed and established an emerging benchmark for determining wealth and status. Living in Australia, we are exposed to this kind of article all the time through every form of media with increasingly sophisticated levels of interaction. Facebook and Gmail parse the content of your communication and your browsing habits to deliver targeted advertisements. We love to talk about our next purchase or our next experience. We would never admit to this, but we are defining ourselves by what we own and what we have experienced.

Devout men and women in the Middle Ages understood this threat and they cloistered themselves into monasteries to live a chaste life before God. This disengagement and personal striving led to great theological error. Equally devout men and women have fused God’s blessing with personal prosperity so closely as to relegate trials to the unbelieving heart and the demonic world.

Consider this:

1) We have everything we need in Jesus Christ.

2) This life is temporal; the next life is eternal.

3) You have an opportunity to glorify God and love others today.