Hey, have you seen the new Nikon D800? It has a 36.3megapixel FX-format CMOS sensor, full HD 1080p video at 30/25/24p with stereo sound, an ISO range of 100 to 6400 (expandable to 25,600), a four-frames-per-second burst rate and their Advanced Scene Recognition System with a 91,000-pixel RGB sensor!

Hey, do you have the new iPad? It’s got that new Retina display, a 4 megapixel camera, and 4G LTE, and it’s only $499!

Hey, have you heard? They just came out with the…

Yes, I’ve heard. And no, I haven’t read the reviews.

I know I surprise a lot of people when I say that. They see me with my Nikon D700 (a high-end, pro camera) and assume that I’ll buy the D800, or at least want it. And I admit, 36.3 megapixels is pretty amazing. If I start dwelling on it, I’ll start to think about all the photos I could get that I’m missing now because I can’t crop enough. I might imagine taking videos of those courting birds, or even better, of my granddaughter.

The thing is, I have a perfectly good camera right now. It’s more than I’d ever dreamed of. If my pictures don’t come out, it’s rarely the camera’s fault. I could use this camera for the rest of my life and never exhaust its possibilities.

Cameras, however, don’t last forever. Eventually this one will wear out (especially at the rate I take pictures!) and I’ll need another one. By that time, the D800 will be long obsolete, and something even better will have come along. When I have a need, then I’ll read the articles and make a decision.

Pete said something the other day that totally amazed me. He was looking at ads for a new cell phone. His plan allows him to replace the aging one he currently has so he was checking out the options. In the process, he learned that a manufacturer only markets any particular cell phone product for six months!  After that, they have a “new, improved” model that replaces it.

We don’t even wait until our stuff is broken. Instead, we’re enticed by new features, supposedly improved quality, or we just want to be cool. It never ends.

There’s an entire marketing industry devoted to making us want things we don’t need. Don’t let them control you. It’s not that things are bad, per se. But having too many things uses our energy, time, and resources to the point where they end up owning us.

Sure, I’d love to have a iPad, or a Kindle or Nook, but at this point, Mr. Budget says no. Besides, I don’t need one. So I choose not to read the ads, discuss the features, or even dream. I know how weak I am. I’d start coveting. I’d end up discontent. I’d stop counting my blessings and start feeling deprived.

It’s not that I don’t like toys. Of course I do. We all do. It’s just that toys don’t make us happy, at least for long. Paul had the right idea. As he tells Timothy (1 Timothy 6:6-8):

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.