Saturday, July 23, 2011

Loving stuff

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:19-21).

Have you ever thought, “I need a new cabinet to show off my collection”? Have you ever told your spouse, “we need new curtains to go with the furniture we just bought”? Are you reluctant to throw things away because you might need them some day?

Do you own the things in your home, or do they actually own you? The last time you looked for a new place to live, did you pass on an otherwise perfect location because your furniture wouldn’t fit or wasn’t the right style? Have you ever moved to a larger place simply because you needed more room for storage? How much of your monthly income is spent on building a collection or restoring some antique? When children come to visit, do you always watch them closely to make sure they don’t touch anything valuable or precious? Do you worry about your home catching fire while you are away on vacation? How big a premium do you pay for insuring your personal property?

Our possessions are just that—possessions. They should not possess us. But all too often, the things we own start influencing our decisions. While on vacation, a lover of rare books might annoy her family by wanting to stop at every ‘used bookstore’ they happen upon, as she looks for volumes her collection is missing. A sports fan might empty the den and completely redecorate it with sports memorabilia, embarrassing his wife who shuts the door whenever they have guests. When a teen falls in love with a blouse, she might spend a lot of additional time and money to get coordinating slacks and the perfect accessories. In each case, personal property starts dictating personal behavior—behavior that is obsessive, inconsiderate, or wasteful.

Jesus said, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The things we treasure as important take control of us—they demand our attention and influence the decisions that we make. What do you want controlling you? Do you really want a dinette set telling you which house to buy? Or do you want the Son of God directing your behavior? Do you want your thoughts, words and deeds to be motivated by love? Do you want to be known for your patience, compassion and generosity? If you want a life that emphasizes these kinds of qualities, then Jesus needs to have first place in your heart.

Let’s look at this issue from another angle. What is the most valuable thing that you own? Is it a house or a herd of cattle? Is it a car or a recreational vehicle? Is it a piece of antique furniture or a collectible signed by someone famous?

Sadly, the worth of such things can easily slip away. Time is one problem. As months go by, cars and RVs depreciate in value. Homes need regular maintenance or they become run down and hard to sell. Security raises another problem. An investment property can be hurt by vandalism. Precious antiques and collectibles can be stolen. And there is always the risk of an accident. Herds of cattle get thinned by illness and injury. Designer clothing can be ruined by a stain, snag or rip.

Thankfully, there is one thing we possess that time will not depreciate. There is one thing we have that cannot be stolen from us. There is one precious thing that our clumsiness cannot ruin. That one special thing is a promise: If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9-10). Saved from what? Saved from being the devil’s mistreated plaything. Saved from being a helpless victim of your sinful impulses and emotions. Saved from God’s anger for ignoring Him, anger that would otherwise result in being sentenced to hell. God promises to save you from these awful things if you are loyal to His Son Jesus.

This is a promise that can never perish, spoil or fade, because the Creator of the universe made the promise and He backs it up. It is a promise that will never lose its value because God is eternal. It is a promise that cannot be taken from us because God is stronger than the devil. It is a promise that we cannot screw up, because salvation is by God’s design and was made effective by Jesus’ blood shed on the cross—our flawed actions don’t enter into the equation.

The promise of salvation given you by Jesus is the most precious thing that you have. Treat it with the utmost respect, because that is what it deserves. Don’t make the mistake of assigning anything else in your life a higher value.

And yet, even though we know that earthly possessions lose their value, we still prize them anyway. Why? It’s because of how we perceive the world around us. We experience the world through five senses—sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. Sight and hearing are about communication—they teach us language, and through language we gain the ability to learn and share ideas. Taste and smell encourage us to eat; touch draws men and women together as a couple and results in the birth of children. Taken together, our five senses make life productive and enjoyable.

But there is a sixth sense that we have mostly lost—the ability to perceive spiritual things. God is all around us, giving life and providing stability to a world endangered by chaos and death. There are angels everywhere, guarding us, protecting us, and nudging us in the right direction. But do we sense any of this activity? No. Our sense of the spiritual is so impaired that we explain miracles in terms of luck. The universe was not created—luck caused it to evolve into its present state. Luck saved you from being run over by that car that by rights should have killed you. Without a sense that can perceive spiritual things, we have no way of truly understanding the world we live in.

Our five senses bring pleasure, and so we indulge them whenever possible. Of course this can cause problems; overindulging our senses can lead to obesity, venereal disease, and high credit card debt. But our sense for the spiritual can bring great pleasure as well, if we develop it and pay attention. There is a peace that comes from knowing that God is active all around us. Understanding the spiritual aspect of life can give clarity in times of stress and confusion.

It is our sinful nature to focus on the other five senses so much that the sixth one is virtually ignored. Because of this lopsidedness, our lives are out of balance—we would much rather stimulate our eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin than stimulate the soul. But this imbalance is a serious problem, because we cannot ignore God and hope to escape His anger for doing so. The answer is found in Jesus. Only He can heal the damage to our sixth sense, making it more sensitive to the spiritual dimension of human life. Through it, He can give us pleasures that the other five senses are unable to provide. We cannot experience life in all its fullness unless all six senses are active, and are working together in proper balance.

All around us, you can see the evidence of lives that are out of balance. Increasingly, homes are being built with three car garages—and yet you still see cars parked outside, because those garages are often filled with other stuff. Many people try to solve the problem of garage clutter by purchasing a utility shed—or maybe two. But clutter is not restricted to garages. There are many products available to help organize your closets and kitchen drawers. There are containers designed to store things under your bed. And if you get really desperate for space, there are companies that will rent you a compartment in a secured facility.

This last option amazes me. I can see the need for a storage facility if you are in the process of moving or are doing major remodeling on your home. But some people use these services to store things that are out of season, or that they don’t have room for but hesitate to get rid of. My friend, if you have possessions that are gathering dust or are buried deep in a pile somewhere, you don’t need them—you’ve got too much stuff!

God gives us property to use for the good of others and to enjoy ourselves. If you own things that do neither, they are unnecessary. You need a place to sleep and eat and maintain good hygiene. You don’t need more bedrooms than you have people living in the home. You need enough clothes so that you don’t end up doing laundry every couple of days, wasting water on partial loads. You don’t need so many outfits that one closet is unable to hold them all. You need transportation for work, shopping, and going to church. You don’t need more vehicles than you have drivers in the home, and you could probably share rides with a little planning. Art is meant to be appreciated; what good are paintings or decorative antiques that are stored away in the attic because there is no place to display them? A home theater system with a vast collection of CDs and DVDs is certainly impressive, but what good are they if you have no time to watch or listen?

Money spent on extravagances would be better off put into savings, used to support the church, or donated to a worthy charity. Our Lord expects us to use His gifts responsibly; hoarding things like a pack rat ties up resources that could be used in more beneficial ways. Take a look through your closets, attic and garage; what are you hanging on to that could be put to better use by someone else?

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