If you’re like me, you love a good dupe of and sale on an expensive product.
I recently saw 2 videos about saving money by not purchasing name-brand items. One was about purchasing designer and brand name goods without the logo—created by @your.richbff on Instagram. The other was a skit about a man wanting to buy leggings at a name-brand store. Unfortunately, I do not remember the creator of the video to credit him, but I will give you a short summary. The store wanted to charge him $100 for the leggings, because they were made with the best materials. The man figured out that he could get them cheaper by ordering directly from the manufacturer, but the logo would not be included. The purpose of these videos was to promote sites that help you save money by finding dupes for name-brand products.
Some may argue that the more expensive name-brand items are top of the line or the best on the market. Some may even admit that they do not want to be perceived as “poor” or “broke.” Even children can have the mindset that name-brands are better and will go as far as bullying others that cannot afford or do not have them.
The older I get, the less I care about having name-brand products or certain logos on my things. I care more about the cost, especially if I can get the same or near the same quality for a cheaper price.
However, God put another thought in my head after watching the videos:
Why am I wasting my money paying double, sometimes triple or even more, for the same product when I can be using that money to invest in or give back to my community and my church?
Eventually, those name-brand items will break, tear, rip, stop working or get forgotten—in which case you will have to buy a replacement. But do you know who doesn’t break, tear or rip? Who doesn’t stop working? Who cannot be forgotten about, because He is always present in our lives? Who is not replaceable? God!
Most people want name-brand products to show off their wealth, to have the best product or to fit in with the world by having the latest trends. I’ll admit, I have been the girl wanting a specific brand to look cool or fit in. But in John 17:14-19 (KJV), Jesus prays for us to be set apart from the world—stating, “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” The word “sanctify” means set apart as or declare holy. We are to be set apart from the world through God’s word. We shouldn’t be trying to fit in and be apart of the world through the purchase of luxury goods—which can put more value on those goods than God.
The extra money we spend on name-brand items can be given as tithes to help our churches grow, reach more people and provide additional resources to the community. It can be given as a door offering to support community members in need. We could even invest the money in ourselves, our families and our friends by purchasing tools to strengthen or begin our relationship with God.
Why should we care if someone knows we have the best products when we truly have the Best of everything in God—both in our lives and after we pass. God is the Best of all! He doesn’t care if your clothes aren’t name-brand. He doesn’t care if your things are cheap. He cares about the relationship that you have with Him. He cares that you tell others about Him. And through Him we receive the Best of all for FREE!
No amount of name-brand items will save your soul, but God will! Those items will not bring you closer to God. Some may even result in your relationship being pulled farther from Him. 1 John 2:15-17 (KJV) says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust there of: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
If you ever needed another reason to buy the dupe or get something while it’s on sale, here it is. Rather than spending all our disposable income on expensive, name-brand items, we should put more value on God—investing in spreading His word and growing our relationship with Him.
Prospective Pursuits 
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