How many things have you acquired in order to keep up with your friends? If you are honest, you will have to admit that most, if not all of it, is to have what others have.

You upgraded your phone because you saw your friends upgrade theirs. You bought that car because you saw your friends drive something similar. You went to that college because you saw your friends go there. You bought that house because your friends bought similar houses. You went on that diet because you saw your friends lose weight.

Of course we will deny that we are simply mimicking our friends. But if we are honest, we must admit that more often than not, we are just trying to keep up. Don’t take my word for it, That’s what the Bible says.

You experienced this. You were content with what you have until you saw your friends get something new or better. Somehow you feel like you are missing out and miserable. So you create excuses to have it.

Social media did not create this envy and folly. It only accelerated it. Now we can see what our friends across country have and we want them!

This is vanity and a striving after wind. How do we stop it?

1. Shut out the source (Go without social media for a whole day, for example)

2. Direct your eyes to the poor (Thai-children, for example)

3. Be thankful with what you have (You have far more than you think, once you start counting them!)

Greed is like fire. The more we feed it, the bigger it grows.

PH