I have been packing this week getting ready for a move. As I pack I am noticing something. I really have a lot of things, some of it I don’t even remember buying. It seems that I acquire stuff naturally and even without thought. Most of it I could do without. A trinket here, a small doodad there. It takes up space, it takes up my time…two very precious commodities in the life of a disciple of Christ.
I am feeling determined by God’s strength to straighten out this area of my life. It seems almost like gravity, this acquisition disposition. My consumeristic tendencies are alarming. Here’s why… After a while the possession of things can actually create discontentment. We all know that stuff by itself is basically not wrong, but the fact is that they don’t matter either. The question in my heart is, why spend so much time, money and energy on things that do not matter. Things require me to maintain them, clean them, dust them, oil them, fix them, pack them when I move, even just getting rid of them when they wear out takes a major effort these days.
The moments of our lives are one of the most precious treasures we possess. When I spend them on things rather than people I feel somehow that I am cheapening their worth. Somehow this inner child that wants more and more has got to be brought under the control of the Holy Spirit in this matter. It seems like such an insignificant thing. Even as I am writing this my inclination is that I am over stating the case.
But deep down inside I know that at the heart of my greatest failures lies my propensity to satisfy myself with worldly possessions rather than with the person of Christ. That sounds like a pretty heavy confession, but I mean it. The desire for things is constantly pulling at us, alluring us to acquire more and more. All the while our flesh is telling us it is ok. It is not a problem to store up possessions which will only rot and decay someday. It is a problem. It is a problem that is so subtle that it hovers around us 24/7 seeking to draw us in without even the slightest hint of struggle.
Paul told Timothy in 1Tim. 6:6 But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. Paul was telling Timothy to find his gain in life in seeking to be like Christ, in throwing off his want of things and being content.
I am going to learn to live with less. I somehow believe that the spirit of this age knows that if he can get us to be more concerned about what we have than who we are becoming he knows that we will simply fall in line with the host of others who have fallen into that trap. I adjure you my friends beware of the allure of more.
