Equipped for Impact

Choosing Contentment Over Consumerism This Christmas

• Luis Miranda and Nathan Deck • Season 2 • Episode 34

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We confront holiday consumerism and show how to raise grateful, kingdom-minded kids when the world sells more as the path to joy. Practical tools, Scripture, research, and family rhythms help us model contentment, generosity, and worship through Advent.

• defining consumerism as a heart issue that shapes identity and trust
• biblical warnings on the love of money and Demas’ drift
• gratitude as the engine of contentment and enemy of consumerism
• modeling contentment: parents’ spending and habits kids copy
• Want Need Wear Read as a gift framework
• tying gifts to stewardship, budgeting, and cheerful giving
• low-cost giving traditions kids love and remember
• serve-before-you-shop practices that reframe desire
• Advent rhythms that center Christ’s humility and hope
• teaching the why of enough and seeking the kingdom first

If you are listening to this and this episode encouraged you, please share it with a friend, a family member who's maybe in town with you for Thanksgiving or you're visiting, leave us a review and subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next.


Send any questions you want answered to podcast@waynechristian.org

This podcast is presented by Wayne Christian School- A Christ-centered community school whose mission is to assist parents and churches in the education of their children from a biblical worldview to impact their world for Christ. You can learn more at waynechristian.org

Nate:

Every December, Christian families wrestle with the same quiet fear. Are we discipling our kids? Or is Amazon? We want to raise grateful, kingdom-minded children, but the world is loud. Ads, wish lists, influencers, Black Friday, the magazine that comes in from Amazon and Walmart, just like the old JCPenney magazine.

Luis:

Before we know it, our living room feels more like a shopping mall than a place of worship and discipleship. Today we're stepping into the noise to remind your family of something powerful. Jesus Christ is enough.

Nate:

And thanks for joining us today. And happy Thanksgiving. This episode is releasing on Thanksgiving Day. So I have to say, Lewis, what is your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

Luis:

Wow.

Nate:

And why is it French toast after 10:30? I just threw him a curveball, yeah. You did, you did. You cannot see his wrestling. Is it a traditional American food? Uh we do both.

Luis:

So we do a lunch at our in-laws, or at my at my in-law's, so my wife's parents. Uh typical traditional turkey, you know, stuffing. Yep. Um and then at night, we usually go to my mom's, and and there is a combination of traditional but also some Mexican dishes. Oftentimes, she might make some of her world-famous tamales.

Nate:

Tamales. Tamales. There you go. Okay. So mine would be sweet potato casserole because it's less about the sweet potatoes and more about that brown sugar topping with the marshmallows all in it. Like, mmm. That's bussin', as the kids say.

Luis:

I I do like a really good Thanksgiving stuffing. Like it like with some with some gravy and some turkey. Like that is some good stuff. Like that, yeah.

Nate:

But we didn't come here to talk about the food. Uh we're coming to talk about what happens after Thanksgiving meal is finished. Because after Thanksgiving, we all know what happens. You start watching football, all the Black Friday ads are at, and we're headed towards the most wonderful time of the year. That's right. It's Christmas. Oh. So we want to talk about, you know, this thing that hits in every home this time of year, and that's consumerism. Specifically, how we can teach our kids that Christ is enough in a world that's screaming, that more stuff will make them happy. Um so I really I think we just gonna need to go start at the root of the problem, Lewis. Like, what is this problem that's kind of beneath the surface of what goes on this time of year?

Luis:

Well, it's it's almost like a switch hitch, right? So you've got Thanksgiving, you're you're thankful, you're spending time with your family, and then like all the sales starts, right? All the Black Friday deals start, and then all of a sudden the gimme's show up, right? The gimme's. Yeah, and and the gimme's are it's not a shopping problem, right? But it's a heart problem. And and materialism is a factory of idols, right? It builds false trust, it gives us a false identity, and it gives us a false security. And and Jesus addresses this uh in the book of Matthew, chapter six, right, where he where he tells us that where your treasure is, that's also where your heart is. And it's almost like this switch goes off and all of a sudden, right, it's the gimme, right? Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme this, right? Like I need the new PlayStation that's come out. I need that new Is there a new PlayStation coming out this year? I don't know. The switch too, right? Like that's the big thing. That already came out. But that's like the big Christmas. Yeah, that's the big new thing. And so uh, you know, like maybe like me, like a new ninja air fryer or like a new ninja blender, right?

Nate:

Things like that. Okay, there you go. Anything like a new griddle so I can make better French toast. Do you have a blackstone for dinner? No, I do not have a black stone. We go with the traditional grill. Like with the you gotta get the lines on your steaks or your hamburgers.

Luis:

Well, for someone who likes to eat disgusting breakfast for dinner, a blackstone griddle like outside would allow you to cook like bacon and eggs and like this big old. But I've got an electric griddle I can plug in inside. There's just something about cooking outdoors and like cooking your bacon. Like I love cooking bacon on my Blackstone for breakfast before 1030.

Nate:

And outside. And outside. I guess that then your house doesn't smell like. But I do like my house smelling like that.

Luis:

Do you? Yeah. Well, I I I guess it makes sense because you're gonna want to smell it all day. Oh, that's just the whole idea of it's gross to me. I I'm sorry. I just threw up a little bit.

Nate:

It's all right. So while he's recovering from that, um you know, the stats on this whole idea of consumerism are are pretty revealing. A 2023 Barna study found that 70% of Christian parents say their biggest struggle during the holidays is fighting consumerism in their home. Uh so this is not just an isolated thing, right? This is this is huge of you know, the consumerism that's coming in, you know, it's it's really shaping our our families and our children.

Luis:

Yep. And just additional research, right, from the American Psychological Association, it shows that when children are exposed to heavy marketing, it significantly affects their self-esteem. Uh, it causes higher stress, and it creates higher materialistic value in them, right? And and we've said this before, but but what we let disciple our children's desires is eventually going to disciple their decisions.

Nate:

Yeah, that's really good. So so let's frame this biblically, right? Consumerism isn't just bad for your budget, it's it's bad for your soul. Wow, yeah, right? Um, Paul gives a warning for this in uh to Timothy, right? In 1 Timothy 6, he says that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, right? Yeah. Um it's that evil that, you know, as you're going after the love of money, it's gonna just tug at your heart and pull you towards these evil practices. In 2 Timothy, he even says that one of his traveling mates, one of his companions, uh Demas. Demas, yeah. He says he he forsook me because he was in love with this present world. Yeah. So think about it. This guy was with the Apostle Paul on his missionary journeys, seeing all the wonderful things that Paul wrote and did, and and he still was gripped by the love of this present world. And so that's why this is such a big idea for our hearts, it can pull us in directions we don't intend to go.

Luis:

And I love the second half of that verse, right, where it says that, and this is to quote the King James, right, they have erred, right, or erred from their faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows, right? Oof. Uh and so another translation says that they have pierced themselves with many griefs. And so, like I'm just imagining that when you are loving materialism and consumerism, you are just stabbing yourself with all of these griefs. It destroys your joy, it distracts from Jesus, and and it competes for your worship and for your children's worship.

Nate:

Right. It's like the old A.W. Tozer quote. Um he he just nails this when he says, The most important thing about you is what you think about God. Wow. Wow. Right? Yeah. And so if I think about things more than I think about God, right? That's my idol. Yeah. Um and if I think God is here just to make me happy and give me stuff, right? Then that's a distorted view of who God is.

Luis:

Aaron Ross Powell And consumerism is going to numb gratitude.

Nate:

Yeah.

Luis:

Gratitude is the engine of contentment, and contentment is the enemy of consumerism. Yeah. And that's why Thanksgiving Week is the perfect time to talk about the gift of enough, right?

Nate:

Like we have enough. Aaron Powell And so when we talk about the gift of enough, you know, we're talking about teaching our children to embrace this idea of biblical contentment. You know? And it's not that saying you can't give your kids gifts, right? We're not saying that at all. In fact, I you know have my own Amazon Christmas wish list that I keep updating starting in September. Right. But you can be content and still enjoy the gift-giving season. So so we're we're talking about this idea of you've got enough, you don't have to have anything. Um we're just embracing biblical contentment.

Luis:

And you know, can contentment is is not being anti-gift, right? Just like you pointed out. Um and it's and it's it's this idea of anti-greed, right? In fact, uh, just to call back to an episode earlier this season, uh, it's the second episode of season two, was titled From Envy to Contentment, right? Discipling a heart of gratitude in a materialistic world. And so we would we would call you back to that because because we talked a lot about contentment. And in that episode, we referenced the Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs and and this idea that contentment is not achieved by by adding more, but by subtracting our desire. Right. And so the reality is that our kids are learning contentment by watching us, the parents, and and that's why studies from LifeWay show that children model their parents' spending habits more than any other influence, uh, including their peers.

Nate:

And it hits really with the um, you know, more is caught than taught, right? Because they see how I spend like my kids see how I spend my money. Yeah. And so then they learn, you know, they learn the spending habits, you know? We shop at Aldi, and so they learn we're not buying name brand Doritos. We are buying Aldi brand Doritos, which in fact are gluten-free, and regular Doritos are not. Did you know that? I didn't know that. So there you go. That's a fun fact for you.

Luis:

Aldi brand Doritos. Doritos, yes. Do they call them Doritos? What what are they called?

Nate:

They call them like nacho flavored tortilla chips.

Luis:

Huh. Okay.

Nate:

Which is I mean, that's what Doritos are. They're nacho flavored tortilla chips.

Luis:

Have you seen that Doritos is going to be coming out with like a dye-free Doritos? I did not. In in December, so with the new administration and some of the red food covering and also like the different like artificial dyes for food. And so one of them that is coming out with Doritos. I love Doritos. Like I love the like the nacho cheese Doritos. And so they're coming out with But if it's Nacho cheese, whose is it? Um good question. Okay. There you go. Sorry, the Joe before Thanksgiving. I guess it's Aldi cheese. It's Aldi's cheese. So I'm gonna need to check out the Aldi's brand Doritos. And they're uh half the price. So there's that too. But here's the truth, right? Is as parents, we can't preach contentment and practice consumerism, right? Like we're telling our kids, hey, you need to learn to be content with what you have, and then we are out there buying new tech gadgets, buying new cars, buying new clothes. Um then I do need a new car right now though. You do, don't you?

Nate:

It's been in the shop for like over a month. So you still don't have it back yet? Well, we did get it back. And now it's back in the shop. And now it's back in the shop. Yeah. It's it's rough. You need you need to be content. That's it. I am content with my one little teeny tiny car.

Luis:

And so our homes must be living examples of stewardship, not a place where we store units for more stuff. Like what kind of world do we live in that we have to rent storage units so that we can store stuff that we're not using that we're not using and then paying a rental fee because we're storing stuff that we're not using because we need more stuff to put in our home.

Nate:

Yep, yep. It is crazy stuff. So so let's get into some practical strategies, right? We don't want to just sit here and you I think you are on the same page as us, right? You understand that that we don't need more stuff. We're we're we shouldn't have consumerism. So let's just get right into it, right? Some practical strategies. Number one, I think it's great at Christmas time, is the uh want, need, wear, read principle. Oh, that's really good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's it's the idea of, you know, four gifts for your kid. Something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read. That's really good. And it rhymes, which makes it even better. Yes, right? You know, so hey, I'm gonna I want this Lego set, so I'm gonna get this cool Lego set, right? But I need uh I'm trying to come up with ideas, right? I need uh a new car. Yeah. I do. I don't know about anybody else, right? But that's something you know, there's a need. We're not getting a car for Christmas. That's way too big of a gift. But anyway, you know, find something they need and maybe spend a little bit more on it than you would have otherwise, right? Because it's it'll make it a little fun and festive and stuff like that. Um something to wear. Yeah. Kids, some of them enjoy enjoy getting clothes, right? But getting a cool, you know, some type of clothes, something to wear. And then you know we love books around here. So something to read, a fun book series. Uh like last year we got my youngest daughter uh the entire Wing Feather series.

Luis:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nate:

And so that was a cool, like, and and she loved it, you know, and it was a bit of a stretch goal for her at her reading level, but she got it and she's enjoying it, you know, and and we work through it. And so those will help you, you know, cap any excess and it kind of sets clear priorities and expectations.

Luis:

And it and it helps your kids distinguish between desires and necessities, right? And it frees you as parents from chasing this impossible standard of giving your kids everything. Yep. And it helps you not spend so much money. And that's actually why it's ex you know, it's exploded among Christian parents because it works. Right, right, right. Here's the second thing, right? Is tie Christmas gifts to stewardship lessons, right? Yeah, that's good. Young kids will learn responsibility through giving, through budgeting, and generosity.

Nate:

Yeah.

Luis:

And so let your children choose or help you choose another family to bless, right? Yeah.

Nate:

Or give them a set amount of money and let them practice generosity and or teach them to kind of divide up if you do an allowance or something, a a stipend that they get where they work and and earn it. You know, set the expectation that, hey, if you're gonna give your sister or your brother a Christmas gift, it's gonna come from your you know, giving bucket that you kind of put your money in. We do we do Dave Ramsey just got really happy when I said that.

Luis:

He did. We do something that we've done since the girls are little, and it's something really cool. And I would encourage you, if if your family doesn't do this, maybe this is something that you can adopt. But we do a Dollar Tree Christmas night. And so we go to the Dollar Tree and the girls buy uh me and their mother a Dollar Tree gift, and they buy each other a Dollar Tree gift.

Nate:

We do the same thing. We don't do Dollar Tree. Yeah. Like we used to go to like Pop Shelf. Yeah, it's closed down now. Yeah, yeah. Um so a little bit more than a dollar, right? But it's a very inexpensive store. Yes, go to five below or wherever. And just they get to pick it out, they get to give it. And it's so much fun.

Luis:

Yeah, yeah. And so and so for me, it's been some of my favorite gifts over the course of my of my life because they go out and so like, you know, um, you know, my youngest one will walk with Brandy. And so when she's walking with Brandy, she picks out a gift for me and for her sister, right? And then and then and then we switch, right? And so then, you know, she comes with me and now she's picking out a gift for her mom. And so I mean it's a cheap $1.25 gift at the Dollar Tree now. And so um it's been some of my favorite things, but but it's teaching them this idea of of blessing somebody else.

Nate:

Yeah, I think that really fits the whole idea of it's more blessed to to give than receive. Yeah. Because even there, right, it's not expensive, but just the the fun, especially with small children, yeah. Yeah. Of of going out and I'm gonna get this thing to give. Yeah. You know, it's so much fun. Yeah. And they enjoy it. Trevor Burrus,

Luis:

Jr. And I think it teaches the concept too that it that it's not about the value of the gift, right? Yeah.

Nate:

It's the thought that counts. It's the thought that counts, yeah. Literally.

Luis:

And it goes back to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians, right, when he reminds us that God loves a cheerful giver. And so it's a lot of fun to be able to give and ar and we've turned it into a fun thing.

Nate:

Yeah. I would say another thing is you can practice, you know, some people call it first fruits giving, right? But this idea of at Christmas, we're going to, you know, go out and make sure that we are giving to God, to the church, to the work that He's doing locally and around the world, right? Lots of churches do missions offerings. Yeah. There's organizations that have their Giving Tuesday, you know, initiatives. I saw uh a church in Raleigh is trying to plant a church in Charlotte, and so that's their big initiative this this Christmas season. And so it's like, hey, you can give and it's going to the spread of the gospel.

Luis:

Yeah, yeah. Uh our church that I used to pastor years ago, we used to, as a family, give to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering, right? And so it we made a big deal about giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering. And and that's going to set the tone, right? It teaches your children that Christ comes first and everything else is is second. And then that brings us to the fourth one, and that's helping children understand and showing them Christ's poverty.

Nate:

Oh yeah.

Luis:

Because oftentimes that is missing in modern Christmas traditions, right? Philippians 2 teaches us that that Christ emptied himself. And then Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 8 that though he was rich, yet for our sake he became poor. And and that's the gift, right? Kids, kids need to see the humility and sacrifice of Jesus and what he did and what he gave up to come here, not the abundance of consumerism or the convenience of Amazon and you know Walmart pickup.

Nate:

Yeah. And with that, I think it fits that we can, you know, serve before you shop, right? Yeah. There are so many opportunities to serve at Christmas time, right? And so serving with your family together, it shifts the heart faster than a sermon or a convers a lecture on contentment, right? Because you get to see other people as people, and you can you can serve them and you can love them even and it doesn't cost any money. Yeah, yeah. You know, um research shows that kids who serve regularly are twice as likely to s to say their faith feels meaningful. That makes sense, right? And it's because, you know, you're putting feet to your faith. You're you're it's faith in action, yeah, yeah, serving other people. And that's you know, Christ came to serve, right? Um and so when we do that, we are imitating him.

Luis:

Yeah, because it it gives them perspective. Yeah, that's really good. One of my favorite things that we used to do at the church that I pastored is every Thanksgiving, we would we would get our children's ministry and youth ministry, and we would deliver three Thanksgiving meals to shut-ins on Thanksgiving Day. And so we would we would come together with our families and we would have lunch and we'd have Thanksgiving, and then we would pick a time to go deliver these pre-cooked meals to, and it was it was always um for me, it was always like just one of the things I looked forward to on Thanksgiving Day, and and just to be able to see the faces of the kids as they would go and knock. And I remember one time we went to this home, uh, this very like t like wore out, dilapidated type of of mobile home, um, and there was a man and a woman that lived in the home, and it was just I mean, it was a horrible falling apart condition. And they weren't able to eat a traditional Thanksgiving meal because of the condition that they were in. I think I want to say that the wife was in a wheelchair, the husband was the primary caretaker, and just his ability, and so when instead of taking them an actual Thanksgiving meal, um, we took them microwaveable, like banquet type dinners that they could warm up in a microwave because that's really all they were able to do. Oh, wow. And so we delivered these bags full of prepared banquet meals that they could warm up. Wow. Now we did give them a cold Thanksgiving meal that they could warm up kind of like a like a Thanksgiving plate. Right, right, right. Um but I remember like talking to my girls because they were with me, you know, they were a lot younger, but just being able to talk to them about that. And so and so those are some really things that like just help you see um a different perspective, right? It resets your desire and then hopefully it cultivates gratitude in in your children. And that leads us to number six, which is to create eternal traditions, not not expensive ones.

Nate:

Yeah, I love this one. And I've talked about it before about how our rhythms really shape our hearts, you know? And Christmas is a great time to do that. Um, you know, there are a plethora of, you know, Christmas devotions, advent devotions you can go through and read as a family together. Um lighting Advent candles, if you're not familiar with the practice, you know, the four Sundays leading up to Christmas and the four different candles that you light, and it's just a visible reminder. You can even write light them. My family, we do them, it's on the dinner table. Um my wife has this nice little kind of Advent wreath that she made with four candles, and we light a candle for a week, and then the next candle it's you know, week it's two candles, and we just kind of work through. But we talk about, you know, the different themes of Advent and it's you know light and hope and joy and waiting for Jesus coming, and just those types of things kind of anchor your family in eternal truths, and and they don't cost a lot of money. You know, you can get four candles for you know four bucks. Um, but it's it's gonna set that rhythm in your family as this is what it's for. You know, it's not the anticipation of opening gifts, it's the anticipation in worship of the gift who came, right? Christ to die for our sins and rise again.

Luis:

And maybe it's just even doing a family devotion, right? Yeah. Christmas family devotion. We have this book that we use that's it's actually really cool, and and I don't know where we got it from, but it it's it's a tw it's a it's a twenty-five-day devotion. Um and when you open up the book, it it's it creates this like Christmas tree, and then it has these little um little boxes that you open up and there's little ornaments, but every day you read a devotion and then you hang up the ornament that's attached to it, and it just sits on on our dining room table. But it doesn't have to be fancy, right? It could just be something that you do. And then that really leads to this idea of how do you talk to your kids about enough, right? Yeah.

Nate:

Yeah. I think kids understand a lot more than we think they do. Um, and especially they catch a lot here, and they're gonna respond better when we teach them the why, not just not just the rules, right? We explained God owns everything and he's given us things to steward, right? We manage those gifts that he's given us our our time, our energy, our money, our house, our food. And then we're called to seek first his kingdom. And so, really, like that's where we're coming. We're coming from this eternal worldview of, you know, this is what's lasting. And so, you know, we can, you know, just let the world disciple our kids, and they will gladly give them this temporary, fleeting, constantly changing worldview of I need more, more, more. The gimme's, like you said, to start this, right? Um, but but uh, you know, we need to kind of build in this idea that um you know Christ is enough and you know we we can have joy in in him. That's really good. I like that. Um so Lewis, any final encouragement before we we close out this first of our Christmas episodes?

Luis:

Well, C.S. Lewis wrote, he said, He who has God and everything else has no more than he who has God alone. And so as we step into Thanksgiving and Christmas, I I want to challenge you to take one intentional step this week, right? So this is this is landing on Christmas, I'm sorry, on Thanksgiving Day, right? So there's what two days left because Chris uh December starts on Monday. Advent. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so and so I think I think November 30th is on a Sunday, right? And so you you have a few days, right? And so take one intentional step this week to begin to prepare for Christmas in a heart of gratitude. And maybe it's limiting gifts, maybe it's a generous uh giving, maybe it's serving someone together as a family. But whatever it is, lead your children to see Christ as the greatest treasure. Um, the world is gonna disciple them towards consumption, towards consumerism, towards materialism, but you as the parent can disciple them towards contentment, towards stewardship, and towards gospel generosity.

Nate:

That's right. So, you know, keep standing there and discipling your children even through this time of the Christmas spirit. I would say, especially during this time of the Christmas season. Uh so thank you all for joining us today on Equipped for Impact. I hope you uh are stuffed like your turkey after a great Thanksgiving meal. Um, but if you are listening to this and this episode encouraged you, please share it with a friend, a family member who's maybe in town with you for Thanksgiving or you're visiting, leave us a review and subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next. We're we're moving on with this Christmas series and we're gonna talk about surviving the schedule, protecting sanctity from the holiday chaos. And you all know how it is, so we're gonna dive into that next week. But until then, keep leading the next generation to stand firm in their faith and influence the world for Christ.

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Luis Miranda

Host
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Nathan Deck

Host