The great question of the twentieth century is, "How can I acquire wealth?" No question occupies a larger place in the minds and hearts of people today than this. Millions in our land worship at the shrine of mammon. This is true of men in every station and in every walk of life.
(Morris Chalfant a Wesleyan Methodist, The Sin of the Church)
The worst fear I have about this people is that they will get rich in this country, forget God and His people, wax fat, and kick themselves out of the Church. My greater fear is that they cannot stand wealth.
(Brigham Young)
Oxfoddictionaries.com defines materialism as "a tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than
spiritual values."
One dangerous aspect to materialism is the false identity it creates in the mind of an individual. People might equate their self-worth based on the things they own. As children of our Heavenly Father, we have a divine identity and potential, but Satan wants us to forget this fact. When we doubt our divine nature and lose confidence in ourselves, we are more prone to fill the void with worldly things--with the outward trappings of coolness, prosperity, abundance, pleasure, or acceptance.
These points were all good reminders for me.
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