"I want something better, what's wrong?"

I am now reading a book called "Good News to the Poor - Sharing the gospel through social involvement" by Tim Chester and I have learnt a lot from it and many things have set me thinking. Just the other day, I was reading a portion on consumerism and something struck me.

I was getting a little dissatisfied with my D70 DSLR camera recently because of its metering and white balance processing and I was thinking of getting a newer camera. Even the compact cameras these days metered better than my D70(except the lens I have is better). So I was busy shopping for a possible camera to replace my D70 and I didn't even balk at the price (1.4k onwards). I was basically obsessed with the idea of getting it and thinking of ways to reduce the cost until reality struck. Isn't it too much to spend that amount of money on another camera?(when I already had one!!!) Won't that money be better used for future endeavours in missions or some form of work among the poor? I haven't though of that untill I read the portion of the book on consumerism and I snapped back to my new self; not the old selfish self that was crucified on the cross. That old selfish self craves for personal pleasure and wants to feed the lust of the eye - I see, I want, I covet. I was convicted immediately and repented. All along, I thought I was contented with many things but even then, there are loopholes that need to be guarded and I thank God for showing me my weakness. To get the better camera now would be unthinkable.

Excerpt from the book:John Calvin condems 'obstentious banquets, bodily apparel and domestic architecture'-what we would call fancy dinner parties, designer gear and an obsession with home improvements. "All these things are defended under the pretext of Christian freedom", he continues. 'They say that these are things indifferent. I admit it, provided they are used indifferently. But when they are coveted too greedily, when they are proudly boasted of, when they are lavishly squandered, things that were of themselves otherwise lawful are certainly defiled by these vices'

Some stats: 1.3 billion people live on less than one US dollar a day - about 1.50 Singapore dollar, 2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation and 1.2 billion do not have adequate housing. Over 20,000 children die evey day of diseases we could prevent. So the next time you say, "I want something better than this. What's wrong?(in buying it)", look at the statistics above and you know something is very wrong.