Dave Ramsey says that one of the chief cause of financial woes is a disease that he calls “stuffitis.” I would say that stuffitis – the pursuit of “stuff” – is one of the chief causes of all kinds of woes ranging from financial to interpersonal to spiritual to emotional.

Stuffitis has at its root the lie that has afflicted all of us since Adam and Eve bought the first lie in the Bible – if you eat this fruit, you’ll be like God. You can take care of your needs. You can indulge yourself. You know better than God.

I know this lie has afflicted me in a number of ways. Several years ago I had a “thing” with home audio equipment. I subscribed to several high-end audio magazines and spent hours each week worshiping them and the life they promised me. I knew exactly what I wanted – a Wadia CD player, a Krell amplifier, and Thiel loudspeakers. Never mind that I didn’t have the $250,000 that I would have needed for those three components.

Then, one day I was thinking about my obsession. Sure, I love music and sound. But what was really going on? » Read more: Why do We Get Stuffitis?