It is just stuff!
The Springtime seems to bring out a desire in people to clean house. And in the process of cleaning house, you generally have a certain amount of purging going on. In general people will take an annual evaluation on their possessions and will try to determine what they need to keep and what are items which can be discarded. Of course, there are those individuals who cannot part with any of their treasured possessions, and then it becomes a matter of hording/rat packing!
What we need and what we want are usually two different things for most of us. Also, the idea of what is valuable and what is junk is another point of discussion among the masses. For many people there is a great concern about hanging on to what they have for fear of losing it or in not having enough of “you name it”!
Jesus directly deals with this type of worldly thinking and worrying in Luke 12. The Teacher may be targeting food and clothing as things we are worried about having, yet this mindset can be applied to every area or possession of our life.
And he (Jesus) said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Luke 12:22-24, 28-34
Right now, in our fellowship hall, we are having our annual Rummage Sale. I can tell you there is a bunch of stuff set out throughout the whole room. Some of the items may be considered treasures and other items not so important. But in the bigger picture of life, it is all just material goods to be used for a time and then passed on.
There is a much larger point to be taken and Jesus has made it in the lesson above. You and I need to be focused more on the spiritual than the material. Seek the Kingdom of God and not the accumulation of more earthly “STUFF”! God knows what we truly need the most and it is not attached to this world. Our relationship and standing with Jesus Christ, our Savior, is by far the greater good. All things of this world will rot, rust, and eventually perish. What is laid up in heaven, our place in the Kingdom of God, will last unto eternity. Now that is worth holding on to and not discarding, a treasure worth more than all the STUFF we could ever collect in a lifetime. Never forget this truth dear saints, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”. Pastor McCarty