Key Bible Verse: "Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be" (Matthew 6:21). Bonus Reading: Matthew 6:19-21, 24-25

Shopping drives me nuts. Pulling into a mall parking lot, a headache starts that sinks from my sinuses right down into my wallet. By the time we enter a store with a banner reading "SALE: No payments until September!" my eyes can hardly focus.

So lately my wife and I have tried "nonshopping." We leave our wallets at home and stroll through a mall counting all the things we don't need. We both enjoy this exercise immensely. It counters the discontent sold us on a daily basis. What freedom! I don't need the silk pajamas or the bright blue car. What I need right now is to hold my wife's hand and repeat these words: "No, we don't have the big-screen TV, but we have what you can't sell. We have each other and the wisdom to know that real satisfaction will never come from things, but from relationships. We have the God-given ability to handle our finances with responsibility, restraint, and respect for the needs of others. We're rich enough to give some money away, and content to set our hearts on things above."

And when we notice that the grass looks pretty green on the other side of the fence, we remind ourselves that their water bill is higher.

My Response:Is shopping—for a car, say—a possible snare for me? Why or why not?

Thought to Apply: Money buys everything except love, personality, freedom, immortality, silence, peace.