Are We Buying A Mirage?

In this episode of Wake Up, Look Up, Pastor Zach examines the decline of luxury handbag sales and what it reveals about our pursuit of status, identity, and satisfaction. He explores how constantly chasing the next trend leaves us empty and challenges us to find our worth in something that doesn't change. Through the words of Jesus, he reminds us that lasting contentment is found in God's love, not in the possessions we accumulate.

Have an article you’d like Pastor Zach to discuss? Email us at [e-mail]!

Creators and Guests

Host

Zach Weihrauch

Follower of Jesus who has graciously given me a wife to love, children to shepherd, and a church to pastor.

What is Wake Up, Look Up?

Check out new episodes of our daily podcast, Wake Up, Look Up, with Zach Weihrauch as he interprets what's happening in our world through the lens of the gospel.

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, are we buying a mirage? This is prompted by an article I read in the Wall Street Journal recently about the decline of the luxury handbag. It's interesting that for a while, luxury handbags were the status symbol of choice for women. It was what you showed off. It was what finished an outfit. It was what social media was full of. Not so much anymore. In fact, luxury handbag sales have fallen 10% since 2023. And that may not sound like a lot, but that's an $8 billion decline in annual spending. Eight billion. Billion. By the way, it blows me away that people are spending this much on a handbag. I, one time took my wife to a department store early on in our marriage when we had no money and told her I wanted to bless her with a new purse. I told her, pick any purse you want, because after all, how much could they be? Turns out they could be a lot. She just laughed and I think we went and got ice cream or something. People were buying luxury handbags because it's what they were told would make them cool. Because as much as we don't like to admit it, we've never really outgrown junior high school. Now brands are looking to try and reinvent themselves. Chanel, for example, has come out with a whole new approach to handbags. Manufacturers are thinking, one more innovation, one more new design will bring people right back. But you and I have seen this trend before. What was cool last year or the year before isn't anymore. What was valuable at one point isn't anymore. That's how it goes with materialism. They tell us all to buy one thing, and we go and do it. We feel good for a little while, and then they tell us, that thing isn't cool anymore. You need to buy something else. This is exactly what Jesus had in mind, by the way, in Matthew 6 when he said this. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where thieves and moths and rust destroy, but lay up for yourselves treasures. You know, this whole conversation makes me think about water bottles because for the last three or four Christmases, my teenage daughters have asked for a different water bottle. At one point, hydro flask was cool. Then a walla was cool. Now I don't even know what is cool. I've told my daughters, no more water bottles. If you want a water bottle? Get a job. Buy one for yourself. Because I'm tired of buying you a new one and throwing out the old one to just because someone else told you it isn't cool anymore. Listen, when are we gonna learn? When are we gonna learn that true satisfaction and identity don't come from the car you drive or the handbag you carry or the water bottle you drink out of? Those things are fleeting. They change quickly. What was up is down. What's down is up. true identity. True satisfaction, Jesus says, comes from knowing we are loved by God. What if we don't have a spending problem? We have an identity problem. And what if the answer isn't one more purchase or one more cool item, one more possession, but is actually learning to be content with the idea that God does love us, that he has a place for us in his kingdom, a purpose for our lives? And thank goodness that purpose isn't connected to whatever material item we. We need to buy. And by the way, parents, I'll add this. Our generation lives in crippling debt because we've gotten this wrong. It's time to reverse the course, not just for us, but for our children, so that they roll their eyes at the next water bottle, at the next purse, at the next item, because they know they don't need it for identity. Even if we look back at a lifetime of materialism and spending with regret, and we can at least save future generations from making the same mistake. are we buying a mirage? Yes. And we'll just keep doing it until we learn that the voice of God is the only one that can ultimately tell us what we're worth. Hey, thanks for checking out. Wake Up, Look Up. For more content, be sure to visit the Christ Community Chapel app or website cccchapel.com.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at [e-mail]!