The long term damage consumerism causes

I am not Amish and don’t churn my butter. I actually love technology and new things but I think events like Black Friday and disposable everything does more damage to our society than good. We have this obsession with new. When is the last time you repaired anything? Everything we own is new until it’s not anymore then we discard it and replace it and not repair it. Why fix my TV for 200.00 when I can get a new one for 300? We have a society that no longer sees the value in old things. We even want a new version of our old things and call it retro. We live in a society that used to value “growing old” together, now it seems everywhere you turn people are cashing in relationships to chase new things they think will make them happy but what we don’t know is that this new relationship will eventually break and if  we don’t learn to value old things we will never understand or experience the power of redemption. The long-term damage consumerism causes reaches farther into our lives than just our stuff, it erodes the fabric of our relationship because our desire to have new things slowly makes its way into the most important relationships in our lives.

This problem in our society is a reflection of you and me. We not only buy a new iPhone when the one we have still is perfectly fine, but we wait in line for two days to do so. We blame it on consumerism but I think it’s much deeper than that. We desperately need to preach the gospel to ourselves those around us because if we don’t our churches and our families will drown in the sea of new and beautiful. The story of the Gospel is all about redemption. When you understand the gospel you can appreciate generations. You understand that God created a perfect world you and I broke but not discard it He redeemed it. I am grateful God who takes something that was beautiful and makes it beautiful again. We serve a God who is unchanging who is the same yesterday today and forever. In revelation  21 it says this.

Revelation 21
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be morning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

⁵ And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” ⁶ And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. ⁷ The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

We serve a God who is making all things new. I like that. The more I understand the gospel the more I come to love my Jesus the more I understand and appreciate redemption. We need to teach our kids this weekend and over Christmas season that new is fine but old is better. Our culture worships new and beautiful at the expense of wisdom and experience. If we are sucked into the vortex of new and beautiful we will miss the redemptive power of seeing a savior who makes all things new.

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