Stuff, and more stuff!

The commandments tell us; "thou shall not covet" anything of our neighbor’s. In general, we feel rather secure about this directive because we’re able to convince ourselves we don’t want to take anything from our neighbors. We’d rather buy them for ourselves. But, what does "covet" really mean? My dictionary lists these definitions;
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1: to long for something belonging to another, and
2: to desire
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Hmmm, is buying our own stuff covered by the second definition? If we want it, we just go out and buy it, right? It’s only because we want it. Sounds a bit like "covet" to me.

I knew a man overseas, many years ago. He and his family, ran a Sari-Sari store, a half-walled hut wherein he bought, sold and bartered things for his community, sort of a 3rd world eBay. His wife washed his only good shirt and pants every night so he’d look his best the next day. None of the family even owned shoes…

By contrast, a friend in California once asked me to help him drive his car home, as he’d recently purchased another. The new car was parked in back of his house with 11 or 12 others he’d collected over the years. Stuff…

A friend has a room in her home walled with glass-fronted cabinets so she can display her collection of hundreds of teapots from around the world. Stuff…

Another has thousands of salt & pepper shaker sets stored in her home. Stuff…

I own a lot of old videos, a friend with whom I used to work has a collection of thousands of expensive tools he doesn’t use, a guy I know claims he has one of every game cartridge ever released and I once knew a man who’d turned one room in his home into a giant gun-safe to house and protect his collection of hundreds of old firearms… All stuff!

Where does it all end?

When will we ever have enough stuff?

Jesus once told a rich man to sell all he owned & give the money to the poor if he wanted to get to heaven. This really troubled the rich guy. Why? Because he was very much in love with all his stuff.

Why is it easier for a camel to go through the "eye of the needle" than for a rich man to get to heaven? Because it is easy to get so attached to stuff, that it replaces God as the item of greatest importance in your life. God has no intention of playing second-fiddle to our collections of stuff. Not only does He want to be FIRST in our lives and our hearts, He wants us to choose to put Him first, & He wants us to care enough for all his people to put their needs ahead of our desire for stuff.

Do I really need a TV in every room or is it more important for starving kids to have food to eat? Is my new "Halo IV" videogame more important than getting the Word to those oppressed under Islam? Can any new RV be more vital than getting inexpensive bible translations made for peoples not previously reached throughout the world? Does preventing the murder of unborn babies mean less than being seen in our fancy new clothes?

Will Jesus agree with our decisions in these matters? "WWJD" is more than just a slogan for t-shirts, you know.

All the stuff ever made doesn’t begin to match the value our Heavenly Father places on one more soul won over to Him. Folks, we all need to build up our treasure in heaven, where it counts (and lasts), not here on earth, where it is just so much more stuff!

See you soon, in Paradise!

Mr Mike