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S T U F F
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In the Old Testament we read of many false gods raised up against the One
True God. Dagon, the Corn god of the Philistines (you know it you invert
the letters of g-o-d-in that moniker, you could call him the Corn Dog of
the Philistines) fell on his face before the ark of God. The 400 prophets
of Baal couldn't rouse a post-card from him let alone a ball of fire from
heaven. Yes, they all bit the dust, those Old Testament idols, but in the
New Testament, one still remained.
Remember, Jesus said "you can't serve two masters, you'll love one and hate
the other," remember? He said you can't serve God and Stuff(Matthew 6:24).
Stuff has remained. Stuff sets itself up as God's competitor. Stuff competes
for our time, our dollars, our emotional attachment, our allegiance, our
obedience, our devotion.
Stuff is the subject of two of the ten commandments -"Thou shalt not steal"
someone else's stuff (#8), and "Thou shalt not covet" someone else's stuff
(#10). In fact, Paul calls coveting someone else's stuff (Guess what) - idolatry
(Colossians 3:5).
Hillary Rodham Clinton had a bestseller out a few years back titled "It Takes
a Village" - referring to the notion that it takes an entire community to
raise a child. Too bad it doesn't take a Gameboy, or a beanie baby, or a
Sega. Our kids don't lack for those.
They also don't lack for messages from the television telling them their
value lies in possessing the right brands of stuff. Sadly most of them don't
ask for parents to reinforce these messages by buying all this correct stuff.
We imagine stuff is basically benign - that we are masters of it. This is
fantasy. Stuff controls us, more often than not, and never stops struggling
for control.
And we must never stop struggling against stuff.
But how?
How do we struggle against so much stuff?. Do we downsize? Simplify? Prioritize?
Organize our closet space?
The answer lies in the first verse we referenced above. Jesus said no one
can serve two masters, that if we love one we will necessarily hate the other.
It seems to clearly follow that the best thing we can do to break the bonds
of our stuff is to love God.
Loving God leaves no room for loving stuff. |
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