We live in a materialistic world and are bombarded by commercialism to shop and buy even if we don’t need the item. The more we earn the more we shop and spend. The desire to buy more stuff overwhelms us, and if we run out of storage space, we will park our cars and trucks outside and fill our garage with stuff we seldom ever use anymore. After the garage is full then we rent a storage unit to hold the $2,000.00 worth of stuff we don’t use any more. We will pay the storage company $75. a month for years to store that stuff.
When my older brother was in his 30’s he was a very successful businessman. He had a beautiful home, swimming pool and jacuzzi, a speed boat, a nice van to tow the boat to the lake or river, two cars and an amazing, landscaped lawn. When Saturday arrived each week, he had to spend time cleaning and adding expensive chemicals to the pool. After that he would hand wash both cars. Then he would wash the boat and van. Later he would mow and trim the hedges. His possessions had consumed his Saturdays. By the end of the day, he was exhausted and seldom looked forward to his Saturdays much.
It is important to be careful not to overfill our lives with possessions that consume our time to keep them up and running and looking nice. The desire to own more things can often overtake us. It is entirely possible we have things we could give away to bless someone else or even sell to someone else instead of just storing them. We are all guilty of hoarding to some degree. I am on this boat with you too. My hangup is I have too many tools.
If we are not careful, everything we own can eventually own us and most of our time and energy. Too much materialism can become your master. A home requires so much upkeep that it will keep you busy enough on Saturdays.
God would love for us to spend more time with him instead of us devoting so much of our time to things we have collected. Everything we think we own belongs to God. Make sure to share it with others if they need it to help them in some way. Cars, trucks, lawnmowers, you name it, all blessings from God. You can rest assured he would share those possessions with someone in need. If they broke it, so what, it didn’t belong to us in the first place. Get it fixed.
Jim Everett
“Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15).
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19).
