THE TROUBLE WITH POSSESSIONS
We all want stuff. For the most part there is nothing wrong with wanting a reasonable amount of stuff. I keep hearing the line “all we need is love” in my head. That sounds good in theory but we usually want at least a little bit of stuff like food, water and shelter. That’s stuff! It’s a normal desire.
One of the problems with stuff is that is often consumes us. We’re rarely satisfied with the stuff we get and constantly want the latest and greatest. We accumulate large quantities of this stuff and need to buy a bigger house, shed or even donate your money for a storage unit where moth and rust will literally destroy your stuff. Does the word hoarders mean anything to you? When we get the bigger house it requires more maintenance which requires more money. You can do it yourself and invest time or pay someone and invest more time at work to pay for it. It’s a vicious cycle. Once you get a television you have to use more electricity, you upgrade often, you end up getting cable/service and generate a monthly bill. If you get a vehicle you have to do maintenance on it, upgrade it as things break, pay the bill, fill it with the ever changing gas prices (or electric) and the cycles continue. Computers/Phones…. well you know the deal with that! Don’t blink or you’ll be considered ancient!
All of these possessions require some sort of sacrifice… unless you’re one of those people that buy nice things and never pay the bill thus requiring the rest of us to bail you out! Sorry… I got sidetracked. Everything we acquire requires additional attention, finances, maintenance, dependency on others, upgrading, storage or even disposal. The list goes on and on but how often do we really count the cost when we are whining about how bad we want that new thing? Just look at your bills. We add additional monthly stress just to pay for these things and we have to count on others to provide us professional services which are often discouraging and stressful. See my last blog….BATTLESHIPS KEEP COMING! P.S. There are the exceptions that shine and I challenge you to make it a point to give honor where honor is due. Professionalism and quality are becoming rare!
I have a lot of things and I praise God daily for blessing me so much. I try to thank Him for even the little seemingly insignificant things as many people only dream of having the “stuff” we have. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure! Some of these things might actually be curses…especially if I owe debt on them or they keep me from investing more into Godly things but I ask that God give me wisdom in my choices. I’m thanking him for the breathe I have to breath, the “love” that I have to give and receive, anointing, His timing, family, opportunities….etc. I most importantly pray that I can be a good steward of the stuff God has given me. If I get caught up wasting my time, energies and monies on too many possessions, I won’t have ample time to invest in the areas God has called me too.
Let’s continue to pray for wisdom to be good stewards of what we’ve been blessed with. The more I think about all of the stuff I have and the responsibilities that go with it, the more I consider being a hippie and just going back to the simple life! Our culture shapes our purchases but we can shape our culture… dare to be different!