British style writer Neil Boorman, a few years ago, caused a stir when he decided to burn all his brand-name possessions. “I am addicted to brands,” he confessed in a magazine article: “From an early age, I have been taught that to be accepted, to be loveable, to be cool, one must have the right stuff. Now, in mid life, I still behave according to playground law.” He’d realized that the happiness found in his possessions was hollow and short-lived. So he’s taken drastic action and turned to a life of simplicity in order to find happiness and his real self.
Well, I hope he’s found it, but finding spiritual fullness requires more than renouncing materialism. The vacuum left has to be filled with something spiritually positive, and a living faith in the living God is that one positive answer to the emptiness within.