“Why spend $250 on a new speaker when the poor need our money?”

Misled by false advertising, we believe that the products we buy will enhance our lives, but they do not, argues Kyle Reneau, a 17-year-old Commonwealth Correspondent, and a Christian, from Belize.

It has been said that God created the world and everything in it and he made living beings, similar to himself, to watch over his creation -his stewards.

I believe that the original blueprint was for man and nature to live as one, but plans were deterred with the introduction of sin. Since then, man has fallen from the vision that God had.

In the past, God had issues with idol worship, and in today’s contemporary world, it is no different. Material objects have become the idols of many even though they were created with the purpose of making life easier. These trivial objects are so revered that they deter many from the path of the righteous.

Most people are unaware of the problems they are creating by being too materialistic for the sole purpose of gaining popularity or superficial happiness. By focusing on living a materialistic life, we neglect to understand God’s will and to spread his kingdom on earth.

Misled by false advertising, we believe that the products we buy will enhance our lives in the long run but in truth they do not. If we were to buy a new G-Unit sneaker for $250 what good will it bring to our lives? Yes it might make us the envy of our friends and yes we might become trivially popular for a while but what good does it bring?

If a $250 sneaker was bought when a $100 one was available which was just as good then $150 would have been wasted that could have went to feeding the hungry or just giving to someone in need.

When we die, which we will eventually, all the things in this life that we possess will not move on with us and do not matter anymore. We will not be judged on how many cars we have, how big our houses are or how much we had spent on a party, but instead we will be judged based on how righteously we have lived our lives.

All the good that we have done, regardless of how small and insignificant it may have seemed, will add up in the end.  Nothing you do goes unnoticed. Your life on Earth, I believe, is a direct measure of what your afterlife may be.

One of our many objectives in this life is to help those in need not for a reward but because it is what we are called to do. Material things are tools that are to be used to accomplish God’s will and not to overwhelm our lives or cloud our judgment when attempting to live a virtuous life.

A true man of God, I believe, will realize this and create a life of honesty, of purity, and of equality making his life meaningful and bringing him closer to not only God but those around him.

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Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Commonwealth Youth Programme. Articles are published in a spirit of dialogue, respect and understanding. If you disagree, why not submit a response?

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