So Much Stuff

[Jesus said:] “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." (Matthew 6:19-24)

How much stuff do we have? I don't know about you, but I have a bunch (a scientifically quantified measure based on years of experience). What do I have? A bunch of books, most of them I've read. I have a bunch or records and CDs. I have a bunch of clothes from a lifetime serving as an administrator (shirts, slacks, dress shoes, ties) and working out/exercise (running clothes - now walking, run shoes, socks for working out). Every room in our house is set up to function as its purpose - a few bedrooms and an office, a living room, and bathrooms. 

I'm not alone. We have so much stuff that we learn from studies that daily or weekly we only use a fraction of what we have. The rest sits dormant waiting to be used by me just in case. 

Christ talks about our collections in today's passage, and then he cuts me to the quick when he says,"...where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,..." Yes, to steal my stuff is a sin and a crime. It is a violation of the Seventh Commandment, but how much stuff do I actually need? To sit on the other side of my fence and covet such is a sin as well, and to act on that is to sin yet again, all the while not focusing on the First Commandment and allow God to be the Lord of my life overall. Christ's point is well made, though. What is most important in my life? 

Store up our treasures in heaven where neither rust nor thief can destroy or steal them. As was said in the 20th century in Nazi German concentration camps by Victor Frankl, "They can take all you have except your dignity and faith." ("Man's Search for Meaning")

Forgive us when we covet to the point of collecting stuff and worshipping that stuff more than God. Forgive us when we take things by illegal and sinful methods that do not belong to us. Forgive us when we lay our treasures up on earth and not in heaven. 

In Christ's name, Amen.