A Review - Worldliness - Chapter 4 by Dave Harvey

I have great respect for Dave Harvey, author of chapter 4 from Worldliness. His marriage book, When Sinners Say I Do, is one of the best marriage books I have read. My wife and I find that we encourage couples often to read it or use it ourselves in pre-marital/marriage counseling. Dave has a writing style that is informal and fun without being shallow and superficial. This holds true in his chapter in Worldliness on materialism.

Dave Harvey defines materialism as follows, “Materialism is fundamentally a focus on and a trust in what we can touch and possess. It describes the unchecked desire for, dependence on, and stockpiling of stuff. In some people it’s more painfully obvious than in others. But it pervades every heart” (p. 93).

Dave convincingly argues that the real issue is not just love for stuff that is external to us, but rather is an internal problem of the heart, namely covetousness. He points us to Jesus’ ultimatum from Luke’s Gospel: “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Luke 16:13).

Dave says that, “Covetousness is choosing earthly trinkets over eternal treasure” (p. 95).

As few nights ago my family and I were watching the Charlie Brown Halloween special. One of the commercial breaks featured a cool toy that caught my 3-year-old daughter’s attention. It took her about a millisecond to say, “I want that!” I had not heard her say something like this in some time. Was it a coincidence that her proclamation of desire for something she does not need happened to occur while watching TV? Is there a connection between watching TV and covetous desires rising up in our hearts? Absolutely there is. Perhaps in our 21st century, media driven culture, a large portion of the battle to fight materialism resides in turning of the TV? I think my daughter reminded me of this lesson.

Dave says we all have “chains”. Chains are lies we tend to believe about material possessions. He writes, “Covetousness chains the heart to things that are passing away” (p. 90). He identifies four chains:

Chain 1 – My stuff makes me happy.

Chain 2 – My stuff makes me important.

Chain 3 – My stuff makes me secure

“Have you ever thought of prosperity as a test? Randy Alcorn once heard a leader of the persecuted church in Romania say, “In my experience, 95 percent of the believers who face the test of persecution pass it, while 95 percent who face the test of prosperity fail it.” (Source) Wow! That’s a staggering statement” (p. 103).

Chain 4 – My stuff makes me rich


He closes with a section on learning to guard against covetousness in light of the “stuff” all around us. He lists 5 ways:

1) Consider your true riches

2) Confess and repent

3) Express specific gratitude

4) De-materialize your life

“When was the last time God was so big that you let go of a treasured possession to bless another person? I did it recently, and it hurt a little too much. More evidence that my stuff retains its grip, and I have a long way to go” (p. 111).

5) Give generously


How can parents guard their kids? Dave says that the most important ways we can protect them is through guarding them from the advertising industry and teaching them to be selfless through loving to share.

Another great idea came from some friends of ours who want to help their children fight materialism by limiting the amount of toys they can possess. This family put the limit at 10 toys. Anytime Grandma and Grandpa came to visit and backed up the truck of goodies for the kids, they had to pick old toys to give away. They quickly found that their kids enjoyed their toys more, fought over them less and gained a sense of gratefulness for what they had. We have considered doing this with our own kids, but have not pulled the trigger yet. Perhaps we will now, after reading this chapter.

This chapter from Worldliness probes deep into our materialistic hearts and will challenge you in ways, which most likely, we all need to be challenged in.

I want to close with a caution that Dave does not mention, but that I am sure he would agree with. How easy is it for us to have pride swell up in our hearts when we succeed in small ways in the battle against materialism? As Luther reminds us, we are “hopelessly meritorious”. May we battle violently the sin of covetousness in our hearts, but may we also battle just at violently the perhaps even more insidious sin of pride that can emerge when covetousness is momentarily defeated.