That One More Thing

Bowing before her idols on a recent trip.
(I have no idea what she's doing here.)

My child has a fever. And the only prescription is more stuffed animals.

“Soft buddies,” she calls them. There are piles of them. Mounds. Hills. So. Many. Soft buddies. And she wants more. Every time we leave the house, she’s hoping to go shop for soft buddies. Even if we don’t leave the house, she’s pleading. Emily recently created a little monster for her out of googly eyes and a pompom. Since then, this child will hand Emily random items—a dime, a tea bag, a large stick—and ask Momma to “make me a soft buddy.” She’s only 3 ½, I know. But she’s also very, very sick.

The other day, in the car, we were discussing this. (Translation: she was asking for more soft buddies.) I said, “You know what the last thing you need is? Another soft buddy. You can’t even count how many soft buddies you have.” To which she responded, “No, I want that one more thing!”

Kids will say the quiet part out loud. They’ll say things that grown-ups feel but would never utter, because we know how whiny, greedy, sulky, or selfish it would sound. Things like, “No, I want that one more thing!”

Jesus says something in Luke that struck me the first time I noticed it, 15 or 20 years ago, and it’s stuck with me ever since. A man asked Christ to “tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” (12:13) Jesus’s response? “And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” (12:15)

Life isn’t about how much stuff you have.

I haven’t quoted that to my daughter. (Did I mention she’s 3 ½?) But I’ll gladly quote it to myself and to you: “Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” (NLT)

Jesus knew how much importance we will place on possessions. He knew that we’ll buy one thing and immediately start dreaming of the next one. He knew that we’ll get lost in thinking about shiny new purchases and stress over how to acquire them. He knew that we’ll make birthday lists and Christmas lists and year-round wish lists. He knew that we’ll wrack up credit card debt to keep buying and pay for storage units to keep hoarding. He knew.

That’s why he warned us not to store up treasures here on earth, because your heart follows your treasure (Matt 6:19-21).

That’s why he said beware of greed, be on your guard, life isn’t measured by how much you own, the abundance of possessions.

Because he knew that we always want that one more thing.

Before you make that next purchase, you might want to ask yourself:

• Do I need this?
• Do I even really want this, or am I just buying to scratch an itch?
• Is there a wiser way I could put this money to use?
• Might God be giving me an opportunity here to practice being content? (see 1 Tim 6:6-9)

You can listen right here: