Thoughts about stuff and things

I'd like to take a moment to talk to you about stuff and things.

First: stuff.  It's just stuff.

Second: things.  They're just things.

I know that stuff can be pretty awesome.  And I have definitely enjoyed the things that I have been blessed with in my life.  But what it took me far too long to learn is that when you get down to it, it's still just stuff and things.

I don't know if it's a problem that's exclusive to American Christianity, but it seems like we've allowed too much of the Joel Osteen prosperity gospel to creep into our lives.  I say "we" because I am definitely guilty of it, even in the mostly ascetic life I've found myself living here in Arlington.  We've got this idea that more stuff is better.  We fight tooth and nail to defend our things, as if they were what mattered.And don't hear me saying that stuff and things are bad.  They're not.  They're in fact very nice.

But they are still just stuff and things, after all.

Read through Acts, especially the early chapters, and see what the early church's attitude was towards stuff.

Christian #1: I need stuff.

Christian #2: Hey, brother!  Did I hear you say you need stuff?

Christian #1: Yeah, man.  I need stuff.

Christian #2: Well...  I have stuff...  How about you have some of my stuff?

Christian #1: Oh, wow!  Thanks, man!  Now I have the stuff I needed and life can keep on going.

Stuff is nice, but if you're not using it for the glory of God, what's the point?  If you're not using it to serve others, what's the point?

Take it from a dude who has spent a whole lot of his life focused entirely too much on stuff and things (and even things about the stuff and stuff about the things, as well as extra stuff that you have to get just to keep the things in pristine condition, and then the things you have to have for all of that stuff) - it's not worth it for its own sake.

I'll drop the silly pronoun usage to make a point: I have recently been re-re-reminded just how very much I love comics.  But what's been the most fun is sharing those comics with a few of the people around me.  It isn't enough that I have the comics, or that I have read them countless times, or that I know all the crazy stories behind the publication and origins and blah blah blah.  That doesn't matter compared to seeing the smile on someone else's face when they get it.  When they see why I love (whatever book it is) so much, that's when it's worth having the thing in the first place.

Now, obviously, comics are different from houses.  But...  they are both still just things, aren't they?

Doesn't the Bible say that the early church was selling EVERYTHING they had and taking care of each other?

Wasn't that the "one thing" Jesus told the rich young ruler he needed to do - sell everything he had and follow Jesus?

I really don't have a lot of stuff.  It's freeing, sure, but it's also a burden, because the simple reality of the world that we live in is that you have to have SOME stuff or otherwise you can't get ANY stuff.

But what little (very little) stuff I do have, I have tried to share freely with those around me.

And you know what?  Sometimes that's still really hard.  It's MY stuff, isn't it?  I deserve it, don't I?

Well...  No.

It's hard to walk away from the American ideal of working hard to get more stuff - especially when the alternative Christ offers is to work hard and give all your stuff away.  Jesus tells us not to store up treasures down here, but to store them up in Heaven.  The hard part is that I can't see my Heavenly treasures.  I can't hold them.  I can't see them represented as a number at the ATM.

And isn't that really the craziest part of Christianity anyway?  That we base it all on something that none of us have actually experienced in a material sense?  We've never seen God, but we follow Him anyway.

How far are we willing to follow Him?  If He asks us for an hour a week, we'll gladly give it to Him - we might even get dressed up for it.  But what if He asks me to give up my comics?  My DVDs?  My iPod?

(The iPod would be the worst.)

God is all that matters.  God is the only reality.  Everything else is questionable.  Temporary.  Pointless.

So why not live that way?

Why not sell everything we have and take care of those who need it?  Because it's uncomfortable?  Because it's hard?

When did we decide it was OK to take the easy way out?

I am a guy preaching against materialism when I don't have a lot of stuff to begin with...  except for debt.  Got a lot of that.  I hope that when the day comes (if ever) that God chooses to bless me with material wealth, I will be able to use it wisely and completely for His purposes.

In the meantime, I hope and pray that I have the wisdom to use what little I DO have for His purposes, and I hope and pray that you will do the same.  May God bless you with less stuff.