Real Freedom

by Raymund Tamayo

Indiscernibly as it is, people are being made slaves by the stuff of this world.

Never in the history of planet earth have humans been involved in so much consumerism as today.

Even little children were unintentionally being conditioned that the more toys they have, the happier they should become.

Some parents use material things as reward for something good done by their kids, without knowing that they are introducing their children to the pattern of worldly materialism.

As if a material possession is a goal they have to achieve.

Why not give love and encouragement, tenderness and gentleness towards one another as reward? Corny, but isn’t that better?

After childhood, we go to school and are then conditioned that life is a race, we should always be number one, that the higher your grades are, the better is your life in the future.

We are pressured to graduate in college so we can have the best chance at getting a good paying job.

Then we claw each other and push each other aside, even forsaking friendships, just to covet those limited good paying jobs.

For what? For big houses, fancy SUVs, expensive clothes and gadgets, and lots of debt to go with all that.

While working, we are then conditioned that the solution to everything is consumption.

When we’re stressed, we go to the mall and shop or watch a movie.

When we want to be entertained, we buy the entertainment.

We buy our food in artificial packages that damage our health, and then we fix our failing health by buying exercise clothes and equipment.

And when we can’t afford to buy these things, we go into deeper debt and depression takes over our lives.

We fix our deeper debt by going into another larger, even deeper debt.

Our lives are stuck to our buying, consuming, and hoarding habits.

We are stuck doing work we hate, to pay for stuff we don’t even need or want.

We became slaves of this world, and we don’t even know it.

Real Freedom!

Real freedom comes from a life driven by purpose, a life guided by the hands of our Father in heaven, a life being made ready for eternity.

We may eventually have some of this material stuff, but our perspectives are solid that all these are indeed only stuff.

When you know your purpose, life becomes simpler and more focused. Nothing is wasted.

Life on earth is fleeting, it’s just a dot compared to the infinite line of eternity.

Why do we need to store treasures on earth, where nothing is permanent and sooner or later things go into decay?

We should store more treasures in heaven, where decay does not exist.

One of our young people at church posted in his Facebook account that “we can’t have everything, and we can’t do everything,” obvious that he is disheartened by that statement.

I jokingly commented that “it’s alright not to have everything. Because if you do, where would you put it?”

There are lots of ways to break free from the chain of this world’s consumerism.

Living a simple life is the first step towards it.

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” – Mark 8:36