Be on guard against all kinds of greed

“Be on guard against all kinds of greed, life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

Jesus from Luke 12:15

I recently needed to buy a new backpack - kind of like a work, everyday, carry my lunch and small tech equipment type of thing. Now, I’m not new to this type of thing and I’m aware of how expensive this stuff can get. Camera bags easily balloon in price ($300+ is not uncommon), Military-style ruck bags balloon in price ($300+ is not uncommon), and fashion-forward leather and non-leather type bags *explode* in price ($600+ is not uncommon.)

The problem then started to manifest for me as I started to think of myself as a *collector.* Maybe I need multiple bags. Maybe I’ll use this bag for this and that bag for that. I just need to find the best bag.

The funny thing was my attitude started to change. Not only was a looking up to these aspirational bags; I started looking down on the common, every day bags everyone else had.

I’ve been down this road before. With computers, watches, cameras, and just about any other dumb tech thing you can think of I spent time researching, watching videos, and basically absorbing everything I could on a particular topic. I let myself become defined by what I was willing to buy.

Then I read Jesus’ words.

“Be on guard.” Wow, ok.

I bought a north face recon. Still a pricey bag (~$100) but totally suitable to what I needed it to do.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t buy nice things, we all spend money on stuff that other people think is stupid. My takeaway was, like many lessons i’ve learned here, it has so much more to do with my heart than anything else. It was so crazy to me in the span of a couple of days I was convinced I needed a $400+ bag and that nothing else was suitable. CrazyTown, USA - population me.

You wouldn’t believe how much I need to guard against being that guy. I’m thankful we serve a God that corrects us when we most need it.

NOTE: I’m not calling you on your purchases, this is just how I feel BUT I will say if you find yourself being defensive you might want to look into that. 👀