I hate to shop but I like to have stuff. And Lord do I have stuff! Mountains and mountains of stuff.
Many of you know that I have been home for a few weeks recovering from being ill and having surgery (thank you so much for your prayers!). During that time, I was around “the stuff” more. It was everywhere. And I couldn’t do much about it as I was supposed to be taking it easy. Ironically I also had lots of time to do online shopping.
It’s easy to let our stuff get out of hand. According to one recent article on marketing, we see between 4,000 and 10,000 ads per day. We are constantly seeing the newest and latest stuff. Stuff we have to have. Stuff that will make our lives better. Stuff that will make us happier.
The problem is that it won’t. The majority of our stuff is only marginally better than the stuff we had before we had our current stuff.
Stuff doesn’t make our lives better. Living out our lives the way God created and calls us to be makes our lives better. And while living a Christian life may or may not make us happy, it certainly makes us whole.
Often we feel a sense of status because of our stuff. The size of our house; the make and model of car; a certain brand of clothes; the latest technology – all make us feel a sense of status, however temporary it may be.
But we don’t need to be known for our status. We need to be known for what we do, not what we own.
Jesus tells us not to worry about stuff.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? (Matthew 6:25)
Life really is so much more than what we spend a lot of our time and money on. Life is meant to be abundant but not abundant in stuff. Life is meant to be abundant in love. May this week show you an abundance of God’s love and I pray that you become known for love and not stuff.
