Consider the advice of Jesus: "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)
There is joy in surrendering lesser treasures in order to find greater ones! Jesus said it's good to store up treasure, just make sure it's the right kind and you put it in the right place.
Years ago a popular bumper sticker read, “Whoever dies with the most toys wins!”The truth is, “Whoever dies with the most toys still dies—and never takes his toys with him!” If we die after devoting our lives to acquiring things, we don’t win—we lose!
The American Dream says die with as much in your hands as possible, and leave it for the kids. My family and I love to play a card game called "UNO" the winner is the one who runs out of cards first. Any cards you’re holding in your hand when it’s over count against you. Perhaps we should think of material possessions the same way.
There was a PBS TV special a while back about America's possession obsession: “Affluenza, the modern-day plague of materialism”. It reveled that collectively Americans comprise a small percentage of the world's population, but own a disproportionate amount of the world's resources. The advice of scripture is worthy of consideration:
"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life."
(1 Timothy 6:17-19)
3 comments:
Funny you would post this right now. My husband and I are on a de-cluttering rampage. We've now lived in our house for 2 years (almost) and are amazed by the amount of sheer STUFF we have amassed. We are trying to get rid of it via freecycle but I will probably be driving a couple of carloads to Goodwill tomorrow. :) I guess we are lucky in that niether of us tolerate much clutter in the first place...but wow, even so. The stuff we have collected!
Hey Caroline! Yeah, it's amazing how much stuff we accumulate.
How are you doing? I was thinking about you last week when I saw it was National Nurses Day--only 214 days to go, hang in there!
"...collectively Americans comprise a small percentage of the world's population, but own a disproportionate amount of the world's resources."
Isn't that so sad? And Americans complain and complain about their state affairs! I often catch myself doing so, until I remember that I have a roof over my head, clothes to wear, I'm warm in the winter, cool in the summer, have a car and so on. I have it easy! Very, very easy!
In Him,
Darelina
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