Day Forty-Two: Matthew 5-8

Matthew 6:19-34: Why I hate [and love] my stuff

I recently scored a great deal on a cooking pan. It was originally $150 and I go it for seven bucks. That's right, seven dollars. Who doesn’t love a good deal, right?

The problem, though, is that it took me a week to even use it. When I eventually worked up the nerve to cook chicken in the pan, I probably sat at the sink and scrubbed the thing for fifteen minutes afterwards. I even eyed Justin with suspicion one night when he washed the dishes, making sure he cleaned the pan really well.

I loved my treasured pan. Then one day something happened. No matter how hard I scrubbed, I couldn't remove the cooking stains from the bottom of the pan. Suddenly my new $150 pan was slowly becoming like my cheap $5 pan from Walmart.

Silly story, right? Turn that $150 pan into something more expensive and it doesn't seem so silly. How about an iPad? A car? An iPhone? At what moment do we treasure our material possessions too much? At what point do we have too much stuff?

I'll be the first to admit I'm materialistic. I challenge anyone who has grown up in the West to prove that false in your own life. We love our stuff. We want more. We are never satisfied.

 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be."

It's amazing that a book written thousands of years ago can still cut right to the heart of "things".  The equation is simple: whatever/whoever you desire, that's what/who you love. I hate that I love my stuff so much. I wish I desired God with the same intensity that I really want a new car.

What are your desires? Can you say that your desire for Christ is more intense than anything else you want in life? I'm no there yet but I trust that Christ is slowly bringing me to that place. Let's pray for each other as we learn to love Christ more and our stuff a little less.