Stuff....

I've been thinking a lot this past year (even longer, really) about stuff and money and God's gifts to us. I have a really hard time trying to figure out how to live a giving life in an American culture of excess and consumption. I hate consumption. I hate the accumulation of stuff and money. I find it really disturbing when believers hoard stuff (including money). I believe that Christ calls us to freedom from all things money-related when he tells us "Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for your selves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Luke 12:33-34 NIV) It is so easy to read those verses and say "Yeah, but... what about dinner? Or what about clothing? Or what about, x, y, z..." I can only say that the verses preceding tell us we are more valuable than the lilies of the field and the birds of the air who our Father takes care of absolutely. But I cannot tell you what the details look like. I cannot define excess for myself, so I cannot begin to define excess for anyone else. And as much as I hate the aforementioned things, I myself am guilty of consumption and hoarding. And I am fearful of taking that ultimate plunge and letting it all go!

I have long been trying to figure out how to live, conscious that everything I have (and I mean EVERYTHING) is God's gift to me, be it the dime I found on the floor or my sewing machines or my house or the food on my table. And if nothing belongs to me, then it should all be used to the glory of God. It's the how of that I've been stumbling over. We live in a culture of such excesses that it takes a constant awareness and effort to fight it off. And it's exhausting. And I constantly fail at it.

We had this great sermon on the parable of the talents (Mathew 25:14-28) a while back where our pastor challenged us to use the gifts from God (money or otherwise) boldly, taking them and making them work and growing them. His analogy was that an investor who takes risks is rewarded with a much larger profit margin (anyone who plays the stock market nows that a 10% return is a good year, right, but in this parable, the two guys get a 100% return, doubling each of their investments!) . I have been playing it safe with God's gifts, burying them and hoarding them.

I don't know really where this takes me, but I thought I'd offer up the challenge to the popular perspective on property and possesion. It's certainly been challenging to me to think through and question how I use (or don't use) my stuff. And to think through how I can take risks and gain the freedom from money that Christ talks about. If I come up with any answers, I'll be sure to let you know ;)