Well, most of it. It’s only stuff, money, possessions, time - we see it, want it, buy it, use it and collect it, and occasionally move it on. We collect our own little pile, and we have this notion that when the pile is a bit bigger, that will be enough. The comedian, George Carlin once said that a house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it. Some people, including Jesus, have survived without owning one.
To a greater or lesser extent, most of us are guilty of the ‘stuff’ thing. I know I am. And yet the thing is, what happens when we aren’t here any more? Well, firstly, we can’t take it with us, and secondly, someone has to sort it out – and they analyse what we had and why we had it and come to the conclusion that we never quite got round to doing what we should do and ‘destuff’.
In Matthew 6 v 19, Jesus said ‘Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal’
It’s a bit like booking a hotel room for a week and then spending all your money on redecorating it, only to leave at the end of the week forever – a waste of time and effort.
My point here is this. Whilst there is nothing wrong with having stuff, it is about what we do with it and recognising we are no more than custodians. If we are possessed with the ‘having of things’, then that will rule our lives. If we are happy to let it pass through, and we use it and share it with others, then that’s OK. In Acts 2; 44-46 (NIV) Paul talks about the Fellowship of Believers:
‘All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts’,
I am not going to ask that you immediately sell everything, BUT can I encourage you to take some practical action. Rather than throwing stuff away, see if someone else can benefit. Can it be “freegled” maybe? Check out Rugby “freegle” (formerly “freecycle”) at this address
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rugbyfreegle/
Or maybe consider whether a local charity such as Emmaus or Rugby Bareboards could benefit from your excess. If nothing else, can you recycle it at the tip?
Have a good day.
