Every spring the “spring cleaning” bug hits me and I get in the mood to declutter my home. I find it astonishing how much I accumulate over the years. I also find it astonishing how quickly these possessions that I once thought critical to own lose their value with me to the point where I’m ready to give them away just to declutter my home. This is coming from a couple (both Dawn and I) who absolutely despise shopping and try to be good stewards. Yet here we are in spring again looking to “gut” the house.
This activity always makes me pause and re-evaluate my heart attitude towards possessions and money. As I’m posting stuff on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace and the GENESIS bulletin board, I find myself asking the question: Who do I serve? God or money?
I not only need to look at decluttering my home, but I often find myself asking God for help in decluttering my heart of the rubbish I somehow thought was precious, and reorienting myself towards the one that is more precious than pearls, gold, silver and even heaven itself. Jesus.
The truth is, Jesus talks about money and possessions as if they are influential masters in our lives competing for our attention, adoration, and devotion.
No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon. Matthew 6:24
Like a master, property, possessions, and money can rule over us and enslave us to the point where we serve them. Greed, bad financial decisions, the desire to achieve a “higher” status or obtain a “cooler” image are not the only pitfalls that we face as Christians. The enemy is often more subtle. The desire or yearning to obtain certain possessions because we think we deserve them is often how we get tripped up. Regardless of the reason, the material gains or time wasted thinking about them can begin to usurp God’s place in our hearts.
We have to remind ourselves that these things that call for our attention and devotion pale in comparison to knowing Christ. The apostle Paul describes all his worldly possessions as garbage compared to his ultimate treasure, which was knowing Jesus personally and what Jesus had done for him (Philippians 3:7).
Jesus says in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume, where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth, nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart is also.”
Jesus is our treasure of treasures. There is nothing and no one else that compares. There is no person or material possession in the entire universe that compares to His splendor, His glory, and His majesty. In fact, He made the entire universe!
There is still time left to do some spring cleaning! Let’s consider what worldly treasures and desires we are allowing to usurp Jesus’ rightful place in our hearts as our ultimate treasure and King. This might mean giving something up or letting someone go. Maybe you need to ask someone in your Group to help you kick an addiction. Whatever it is, and no matter how hard it might be to let go of, remember these words from Jesus:
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
You are Christ’s most prized and valued possession. Let’s make Christ ours!
