While I wouldn’t endorse all the humor of the late comic George Carlin, he pretty much hit the nail on the head with his legendary 1980s routine about “stuff.”
“A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it,” Carlin said. “You can see that when you’re taking off in an airplane. You look down, you see everybody’s got a little pile of stuff. …That’s what your house is, a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get … more stuff!”
Carlin was right – it sure is easy to become obsessed with material possessions.
Recently, I’ve been spelunking in our basement and rummaging through closets in search of stuff I can give away. My church is having what we’re calling “Freecycle Day” and we’re hoping to give away lots of stuff to folks who need it more than we do.
While our main objective is to bless others, I think we’re likely to be the ones who are blessed as we let go of possessions we’ve been holding onto… and that perhaps have been holding onto us.
As I look for things to give away, I’m amazed at the pathetic excuses I conjure up to rationalize my hoarding instinct.
“Of course 14 sets of twin sheets aren’t too many! Sure, I don’t currently have any twin beds in my house, but what if 14 visiting missionaries (toting their own air mattresses) or a boatload of Haitian refugees need a place to stay overnight? Boy, THEN I’d be sorry I parted with these!”
“And if I donate three of my four electric can openers, what’ll happen if the other one breaks? How will I open up my pork ’n beans?”
“And what if my son moves into an apartment and needs this fake gold flatware we got for touring that tacky timeshare resort in the mountains?”
“And I’ve gotta save these old bicycles that haven’t been ridden in 15 years … and that boogie board my kids used at Myrtle Beach … and …”
You see how it goes?
Ugh. The tentacles of materialism can so insidiously wrap around our American, middle-class hearts, which is exactly why I need to give some of my stuff away. I need to know I can.
One of the saddest encounters recorded in the Bible is a conversation Jesus had with a guy described as a “rich young ruler.” This fellow crossed every religious “t” and dotted every religious “i” – he was a church guy from stem to stern. But beneath his religious sugarcoating, Jesus saw something this man loved more than God–his “stuff.”
The man didn’t just own many possessions—they owned him. Knowing that “stuff” was the one thing standing between this young man and a true, passionate relationship with God, Christ asked him to give his riches to the poor.
It was too much for the young tycoon and the Bible says he “went away grieving.”
Does that mean we have to give away all our possessions to follow Christ?
No, but we do have to respond when He asks us to lay down the “one thing” … or several things … that are getting between us and Him.
Whether that is a possession or an ambition, it’s crazy to let anything come between us and our highest destiny – an intimate, vibrant relationship with God. When God says, “lay it down,” it’s always because He wants to place something far greater in our emptied hands.