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“We all have material desires — desires attached to money and clothes and cars and houses.”

A thought by John Ortberg from his book, The Me I Want to Be (p. 83). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Ok, but is this a good thing?

John goes on, “If we could purge away all our sin, we would still desire material things because God created that stuff. All stuff, ultimately, is part of God’s creation, and therefore it is all good. And therefore, it is desirable.

“Do you like money? In Acts 16 we read about Lydia, a businesswoman dealing in textiles, who was the first convert to Christianity in Europe. She had an eye for design and a flair for making money. Imagine the passion and drive it would take for a woman to succeed in business in the ancient world. She was good enough at it that she owned her own home, and it was large enough that it became part of her ministry. Lydia’s house became the first meeting place of the first church in the history of Europe. Of all the churches built over all the centuries — Notre Dame, Westminster Abbey, and the Sistine Chapel — the very first one in Europe was the home of this Philippian businesswoman named Lydia.”

John continues, “Maybe you have a flair for money. You enjoy it. You don’t admit it to anyone at church, but you do. You love being surrounded by beauty, design, and color. That in itself is not a bad thing. God created beauty. God loves beauty.

“If these desires choke your generosity, cause you to live in debt, or create chronic dissatisfaction, then it is time to say no. But it is a good thing to put beauty in your environment that speaks to your soul. When you see that beauty, embrace that God-given joy and thank him that he is such a good God.

“In that moment, you can experience the flow of the Spirit in your life.

“As the Spirit flows in you, maybe God will give you creative, new ideas about how to share what you have, just as he did with Lydia.”

John says, “Is it a bad thing to like fast cars? That is a material desire. Maybe God placed a desire for fast cars within you so you could be a policeman so that you could drive really fast and it would be legal. (My nephew is training with the California Highway Patrol, and it sounds like fun.) Or maybe you drive fast so policemen can have something to do.”

He then says, “Now, if your desire for cars blocks good stewardship or puts you in debt, it is time to say no. If not, is it possible that enjoying a car might be something you could do with God? And when you are driving, you might say, ‘God, I invite you to be with me in this moment.’

“The Spirit could be flowing with you right there — j-u-s-t under the speed limit.”

Do you see that material desires can be a good thing?

Yes, yes!
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