Before you begin reading this post, you’ll need to plunk down two one dollar bills down on your keyboard, because I am going to give you two doozie words. They are consumerism and narcissism, and one can hardly go through a holiday season in the US without being assaulted by them. Before I talk about how they have affected our culture, let me define them.

Consumerism - an attitude that values the acquisition of material goods
Narcissism - excessive self-admiration and self-centeredness

These two attitudes combined have set our society on an increasingly troublesome path. Because of the way we are connected across the US and across the world, we can look up anything we want, talk to anyone we want, or buy anything we want, virtually any time (sorry, no pun intended). We have been taught to be consumers, to “shop around,” to only extend our loyalties as far as our needs are met. Especially for people in the younger brackets of society, this reinforces what we have been told during most of our growing-up years – you are special, you are unique, you deserve to have opportunities in life, and you deserve happiness. While this should be true in some ways, getting told this all the time has heightened our narcissistic belief that we are the center of our own universes.

I was particularly struck by this while watching a Toyota commercial on TV the other day.

Did you catch the tagline? “Anyway you want it, that’s the way you need it.” This is where consumerism and narcissism come together in our culture. We have gone beyond the attitude that you can have things anyway you’d like, to the understanding that how you want something becomes you own personal need – essentially wants turned into needs.

This comes out in a strong way at Christmas time when Americans are unwittingly turned into over-consumers. Under the guise of holiday spirit, we are encouraged to meet everyone else’s consumerist needs. Not that there is something wrong with giving someone a gift to show that you care, but we should stop and question the purpose and the difference between a symbolic gift and the debt creating splurges or obligations that we often see.

However, Christmas isn’t the only time this is present and the US isn’t the only place this happens. In Japan, young people are absorbed with having a good job so they can afford the luxuries of life and busying themselves with the latest fad or amusement. Consumerism is even present on a small scale in underdeveloped countries where making it big simply means having a nice mo-ped and a cell phone.

In the end it’s all a symptom of trying to fill a void that is part of the fall, a need that can only be satisfied by a relationship with our loving creator. That’s what makes a real understanding of Christmas so important – God gave us the only gift we really need in Bethlehem. It wasn’t just a tiny baby; it was his son, who lived and died to fulfill God’s redemptive plan, to allow us to once again be in relationship with our creator.

As you celebrate the holiday season with your family, take time to pray for those around the world who are still trying to fill that void in their souls. Pray that they would hear the message of the gospel and that it would break past the forces of materialism and consumerism and into their hearts.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 10th, 2007 at 6:54 pm and is filed under Thoughts & Musing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.