French Roman Catholic archbishop Francois Fenelon said that a baby sees an apple and a diamond and regards them in the same way, and we should be like that. He wrote this in a letter to a small group of Christians at the court of King Louis 14, arguably the most immoral court in the history of the world. We have just passed through the Christmas season, arguably the most greedy time of the year. On Thanksgiving Day, many employees had to work that night (and some all night), so that greedy employers could serve selfish and silly materialists(the stores could have opened in the morning afterwards with great specials, as normal). Myrick's Jewelry and Bubba Gump of Gatlinburg, Tn, were some of the few businesses to buck the trend to trash Thanksgiving Day. God bless them.
In the interest of full disclosure, I admit (to paraphrase C.S. Lewis) that consumerism/materialism is one of the few sins not attractive to me. Therefore I can rail against the "shop til you drop" crowd with no danger of being accused of being in that camp. But we who are not swayed by sins of greed for material opulence ought not to look down our noses at those who are. All of us veer out of the will of God radically, since the Bible(the Holy Spirit through the Bible, actually), teaches that the heart is desperately wicked. So if we are not tempted to show off materially, we are prone to gluttony, or sexual excesses, or status, or comfort, or for something else we crave above worshipping Jesus Christ. It is not wrong to haves money or pleasure or status, etc., unless we get these gifts by disobeying the clear teaching of the Bible.
Fenelon said, "Sometimes we find the most surprising faults in otherwise good people...I ask you more than ever not to spare me if I need correction. Even if you mention a fault which isn't really there, there will be no harm done. If I find that your correction wounds me, then my irritability simply shows that you have touched a sore spot in my life." I hope that we have this attitude in 2013, because if we do not need to repent of materialism, we need to repent of hedonism or laziness or gluttony or some other sin that hinders us from ,walking humbly with the risen Jesus Christ.
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