Don't Buy to Impress Others by K P Yohannan

Well, looking at me, you know, I'm wearing a pullover, which means it's wintertime, kind of cold. But I remember my first encounter with ice and snow. It's awful.

It was 1974 in Germany. And during those weeks there, I remember my first conversation with my father-in-law about cars, houses, and all kinds of material things. Of course, you know, Mr. Helmut Reichardt, that's the name of my father-in-law, he traveled all over the world setting up factories for mega companies in Germany.

Of course, you know, he lived in America quite a lot. And he said to me, son, I want to give you a piece of advice. I said, father, tell me.

He said, you're going to study in America, but keep this in mind. Americans like huge houses, but also the biggest cars they can find. It's kind of a status symbol.

Then he said, remember, son, a car is something you use to transport your little body from one place to the next place. It is not a house that you live in. Don't waste a lot of money on buying cars to impress people.

Of course, I landed in the United States later to go to college, and sure enough, I saw cars I never saw in my entire life. Maybe in pictures I saw, but you know, I kind of felt like a little mosquito sitting on the top of an elephant. Well, as time went by, I too was tempted, horribly tempted, to buy some bigger cars, and I did buy a couple of them, just to tell you the truth.

But it didn't take very long before I found out, what am I doing? This is not important. You see, I began to read and understand more and more of the reality of a like half of the world will go to bed with empty stomach and naked bodies. Millions of children roaming in the streets without any food or care or no one to love them.

And I looked at my life and I realized, yeah, my father-in-law's advice. It's good advice. So, I switched from bigger cars to little Volkswagen bug.

And I'm so glad that over the years, the Lord watched over this little creature and never had an accident. It runs well and takes my fragile little body from one place to the next place I'm going. Well, here's a lesson.

So much of our energy, our concentration, our resources, we give it, we spend it on things that really don't matter. But more than that, it just burdens us down so much. A. W. Chaucer said this, materialism without any doubt is the worst enemy of godly life.

If you want to walk with God, if we want to be His so completely and find peace and a sense of wholesomeness, don't let the stuff, the material things become the reason for your joy. It's just a tyranny. It's a burden.

My little bug, I'm happy with it. No, no, no. You don't have to buy a bug to be happy about it.

But make your own decision as the Lord gave you direction.