Denver police were called to Cherry Creek Shopping Center after crowds showed up for Swatch’s Royal Pop pocket watch release. According to The Denver Post, dozens of Swatch stores shut down globally as people swarmed locations trying to buy the new watches. Denver police responded around 7:35 a.m., the mall was cleared, and no arrests were made. The watches retail for about $400 to $420, but some were quickly listed on resale sites for thousands of dollars.
Now, I enjoy a good watch. I understand wanting nice things. Christians do not need to pretend beauty, craftsmanship, design, and personal taste are wicked. God made a world with color, texture, order, creativity, and delight. A watch can be useful. It can be attractive. It can even be a meaningful gift.
But if your hunger for a watch gets so intense that police have to clear the mall, we may have drifted slightly past “I appreciate design” and into “somebody call the worship team, because this is idolatry with a wristband.”
Scripture is not anti-possession. It is anti-possession-possession, when the thing you own starts owning you. The Bible speaks clearly about work, provision, stewardship, contentment, greed, and worship. Those categories matter here.
First, providing for your family is good and biblical. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 5:8, “But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith.” That is not a suggestion that Christians become lazy, careless, or allergic to money. Work matters. Earning matters. Saving matters. A husband, wife, mom, dad, or grandparent who works hard to provide is doing something honorable.
Proverbs also praises diligence and wisdom. The wise person plans, works, saves, and prepares. There is nothing spiritual about being irresponsible and then calling it faith. God’s people should not confuse contentment with passivity.
But provision can quietly become pride. Stewardship can become status. Enjoyment can become appetite. Before long, we are no longer buying a useful thing. We are chasing an identity.
That is where Jesus’ warning in Luke 12 cuts straight through the nonsense. He said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” The context is a man asking Jesus to settle an inheritance dispute. Jesus does not deny that property matters. He does not say possessions are meaningless. He warns the crowd that greed can hijack the human heart.
That is the issue. Not watches. Not shopping. Not having nice things.
The issue is worship.
An idol is not always a statue in a pagan temple. Sometimes it is a thing we believe will make us complete, envied, important, happy, noticed, or secure. Sometimes it is a house, a truck, a handbag, a vacation, a political tribe, a social media following, or yes, a colorful little pocket watch that apparently caused grown adults to lose their ever-loving minds before breakfast.
Happiness is not wrong either. Ecclesiastes reminds us that eating, drinking, working, and enjoying the fruit of our labor are gifts from God. Christians are not called to live like joyless cave raccoons. God gives good gifts, and gratitude is part of faithfulness.
But joy becomes distorted when it depends on getting the next scarce thing before someone else does. That is not gratitude. That is hunger without a governor. It is desire discipled by marketing instead of Scripture.
This is also a civic issue, even if it seems silly. Public order matters. Police should be dealing with crime, danger, and real threats, not babysitting luxury-product stampedes because a corporation created scarcity and the public responded like the golden calf came in eight colors.
Government has a proper role in preserving order. Families, churches, and communities also have a role in forming people who can hear the word “limited release” without stampeding a mall like civilization has been canceled.
Faithful Christians should ask harder questions of our own hearts. Can I enjoy this without needing it? Can I buy this without neglecting my family? Can I admire this without envying others? Can I walk away if wisdom says no? Can I be happy without owning the thing everyone else is chasing?
Paul tells Timothy that “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil” in 1 Timothy 6:10. Not money itself. The love of it. The worship of it. The belief that more will save us from emptiness.
The bottom line is simple. Buy the watch if you can afford it, want it, and it does not own your heart. But if a trinket, brand, drop, resale price, or status symbol can turn us into fools, the problem is not the watch.
The problem is worship.
Christians should work hard, provide well, enjoy God’s gifts, and hold every possession with open hands. We should teach our children that happiness is not found in scarcity, status, or stuff. We should model contentment in a world that profits from making us restless.
Because Jesus was right. Life is not measured by how much we own.
Not even if it matches our outfit.
Source: The Denver Post
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