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By Donna Marbury (The Chosen Chick)

I’ve cried over not having makeup. And I’ve been totally depressed over the fact that I haven’t bought a new pair of shoes in more than a year. I am used to keeping up with the seasons, and the Joneses, when it comes to cosmetics and clothing. My boyfriend doesn’t understand how I feel when I see a girl rocking a shade on her lid that I know is from a new MAC collection. He just shakes his head, tries to console me and rolls his eyes.

I have a thing for things. I can be patient, kind, loving, forgiving…but I have coveted my homegirls’ lipglosses and foundations in this personal recession of mine. When Matthew 6:33 says to seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be given to you…I surely wanted some new makeup added to me. It’ been an issue I’ve been working on; giving up my need for materialistic things in order to be closer to God. Financially, I’ve had no choice. I have been running on fumes for the past year. So splurging at the MAC counter just hasn’t been an option, even if I wanted to. And though I have had to deal with this for the past year, I never was really comfortable with it. This MAC Winter palette from 2008 I’ve been using is wearing thin and I am sure my makeup-ista friends have peeped my creativity with the same 8 colors over and over again.

In Matthew 6:28, Jesus says:

“So why do you worry  about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they  neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed  like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and  tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”

“But Jesus,” I always want to reply and stomp my feet! How does one deal with an attachment to things, even inexpensive things like CoverGirl or Target earrings? When Jesus asked us to deny ourselves and follow him, did he mean pseudo-essentials like makeup and hair products too?

Pastor Howard Tillman from my church New Covenant said Wednesday while preaching at First Church of God that “You’re rich when you posses Jesus.” Which is true because no matter how much makeup I have on, how fly my purse is or how dope my shoes are, the confidence I step in comes from my relationship with God. I seem to forget that when I compare my wants to my bank account.

Is it wrong for us as women to want stuff? I’d say yes when it takes priority over our happiness. I also say that the investment some of us make into our outward appearance doesn’t nearly match the investment we make to our inward appearance. In other words, have you ever seen a beautiful woman with a stank attitude?

No matter how many shoes I have, I will always want more shoes. And can a girl ever be satisfied with a couple tubes of lipgloss. Or as Solomon put it in Ecclesiates 5:10:

He who loves silver  will not be satisfied with silver;

Nor he who loves  abundance, with increase.

This also is vanity.

So what do I have to do to when I am feeling like crap because I don’t have what the other girls have? Pastor Tillman says, “No more am I going to thank God for things. I am going to thank Him for his presence.” I have to remember that what I have is more than colored lids and shoes that eventually hurt my toes. I have stability in God’s word and authority over the ills in my life. I have a spot in heaven next to Jesus, which is better than a spot at the MAC counter.

Matthew 6:20 says:

but lay up for yourselves treasures in  heaven, where neither  moth nor  rust destroys and where thieves do not  break in and steal.

Sure, I like to feel pretty and look beautiful. And my boyfriend always tells me I’m pretty and look beautiful when I step out. But nobody can borrow and forget to give back the grace God gives us. Nobody can drop and crack salvation. And you know how you buy something, and it looks different when you get it home and you can’t take it back? Well, everything that God gives me is a perfect fit. In this time of my financial lack, I am starting to realize that I have more riches now than I ever had. And there’s nothing wrong with reusing that lipgloss one more time.

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