Defying Materialism: A Men's Devotionalნიმუში

God Likes Mustangs and Buildings

God likes Mustangs and buildings.

God created this earth and judged it “good” (Genesis 1:9 NIV)*. After God created humans, He called His Creation “very good” (Genesis 1:31 NIV). He gave us the task of creating culture—of developing the technology used to make Mustangs, chainsaws, and pickleball rackets. God literally made us to take the raw materials of the earth and make things with them(Genesis 1:26-28 NIV).

A great place to begin our week is to first recognize the goodness of material things.

When it comes to material things, men generally spend their money a little bit differently than women. One place men generally spend more is on cars. My friend Josh has a Mach-E Mustang. One day, while driving around, a fancy Shelby Mustang pulled up next to us at a traffic light. By the time we hit 70km/hr (a couple of seconds), that hunk of American muscle was in the rearview mirror.

I think God likes Mustangs.

Men are also much more likely to work in the building trades than women. God likes buildings and the (mostly) guys who build them.

Exodus 31 tells us how God specifically gifted Bezalel to build the tabernacle (Exodus 31:1-4 NIV). It was a fantastic structure full of beautiful works of art and material things. The temple built later by Solomon (1 Kings 6-7 NIV) was even more extravagant! I think God liked both of these works of craftsmanship.

We easily create a dichotomy between material things like Mustangs vs. eternal things like following Christ. Material is bad, eternal is good.

Instead of an either/or, we need a hierarchy.

Mustangs and tabernacles are good. Being filled with the Spirit, loving your family, and living in light of the Gospel are better.

Genesis 1 tells us that created things are good. Romans 1 tells us that we frequently fail to give thanks to God for things like Mustangs (mistake #1: Romans 1:21 NIV), and that we frequently end up worshipping and serving our stuff instead of God (mistake #2: Romans 1:25 NIV).

God likes Mustangs and buildings and material things. They’re good, but not as good as life with Him in His Kingdom. This week, we’ll look at how men can understand this properly, appreciating what we have while resisting our materialistic culture.

Prayer: Father, thanks for the good gifts that You give us. Help us to delight with You in the wonderful things we have, and help me to delight more in You than in the things You’ve given us. Break the grip these things have upon my life by strengthening my grasp upon You and knowledge of Your worth. Amen.

Reflection: Spend a few minutes thinking about your favorite possessions and your bank account. Thank God for what you have (Romans 1:21 NIV), and then invite God to show you if you’ve begun to love any of these created things more than eternal things. Respond accordingly.

* Unless otherwise listed, all biblical references for this devotional will be from the New International Version (NIV).