Monday, October 8, 2012

You Are More Than What You Own

Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” -- Luke 12:15

We’ve been listening to a series of sermons about money. Yeah. It’s nobodies favorite topic, especially at church. Because talk about money always involves stewardship which leads to tithes and giving more money than we want to give.

But as Pastor Danny pointed out yesterday, stewardship is about more than money. Why do we want money? So we can buy more stuff. And everybody knows you can’t serve God and serve your possessions too.

It comes back to knowing your life’s purpose. We’ve been discussing this very topic in Sunday school. It’s not as easy as it sounds, at least not when we get to the specifics of our daily lives. However, Pastor Danny gave us a biblical overview: Seek justice, show mercy, and walk humbly with God.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it? And it is easy -- at least until Satan plants the seeds of doubt and fear in our hearts. Then we aren’t so sure exactly what we should do. We know what we want to do but we also want to make sure we have enough money and stuff. We don’t want to give away what we have and then find out later that we really needed it.

So we hang on tightly to what we have and that, in turn, pulls us further away from God. All God wants from us, really longs for from us, is our hearts. He wants us to love Him with everything we’ve got. He wants us to trust Him with everything we’ve got. He wants our lives to reflect our deep love for Him.

He has every right to demand our tithes. He has every right to demand right attitudes. After all, everything we own, everything we have, everything we accomplish, comes from God. We don’t much like to admit that but it’s true. Our very lives come from God. We are strangers in this land, as Pastor Danny pointed out. We are visitors on this earth. Everything we give to God already belongs to Him. When we go home, we aren’t taking it with us.

So why hold on to it all? Why do we take so much pride in our stuff? Why do we value ourselves, and others, based on the size of our houses or bank accounts? Why do we somehow think we’re better people because of all of our toys? It sounds kind of pathetic doesn’t it?

One of the first things we had to do in Mass Communications 101 was to write our obituaries. It’s sure wasn’t a glamorous way to begin college but it was thought-provoking. What do you want people to say about you when you’re gone? Do you want them to list your possessions? Or had you rather them talk about all the good things you did to bring glory to God? Your life isn’t about what you own, it’s about who you are in Christ. That’s something pretty powerful to remember when you’re holding tightly to all that stuff.