Battle Against Excess – Stuffed with Stuff

The popular children’s book “If You Give Mouse a Cookie” teaches some serious truth. When the mouse gets a cookie, he wants some milk to go with it. Then, he wants a straw for his milk… And on it goes.

We are the same. Some is never enough. If we get a bigger house, we “need” more furniture to fill it up. Then we need more lamps and pictures and throw pillows. Stuff tends to breed more stuff.

Rick Warren wrote about this in a recent devotional:

The problem with stuff is, the more you have, the more it takes to take care of it all — the more you have to clean it, the more you have to protect it, the more you have to insure it, and the more you have to repair it.  It isn’t too long before stuff dominates your life.

The 7 Experiment

In Week Four of “The 7 Experiment” Jen Hatmaker focuses on possessions. She digs deep into a well-known section of the Sermon on the Mount to see what Jesus had to say on the subject:

Jesus knew that an excess of stuff gets us off track spiritually. Here are a few things Jen pointed out in Matthew 6:19-24.

Material possessions don’t last.
Our heart will be wherever we invest our time, resources, and energy.
If we spend a large percentage of our life on acquiring and caring for our possessions, we end up wasting a lot of our life.
Greed swallows generosity.
We cannot serve stuff and Jesus at the same time.

The primary problem with possessions is they can so easily possess us. Stuff weighs us down and wraps us up. It turns our heart and soul away from God.

What’s the answer? How can we keep from becoming a slave to our possessions and keep our heart on Christ? It may mean an overnight, dramatic lifestyle change if that’s how God directs. But it may be a change in direction, decision by decision – the next one, then the next one.

I love Jen Hatmaker’s advice in this lesson:

Imagine this part of discipleship as a thousand little moments, thousands of small decisions that bit by bit, choice by choice, slowly draw us under the leadership of the correct Master. Every day, we have incremental chances to store up heavenly treasures… to serve and love our God and His people… Each small decision connects to the next and slowly forms a new pathway… They begin revealing a heart that loves people more than possessions, justice more than a huge savings account.

For the long term, each day, in each decision, let’s choose God, His Kingdom purposes, and people over more stuff.

Clothing Fast Flash Back

Before we get to this week’s challenge, I want to share how my clothing fast went. Pulling the first 75 items out of my closet was fairly easy. But the next 55 was difficult. I had to keep reminding myself I do not need all these clothes.

At the beginning of my “clearing out” God showed me again how awesome He is. He connected my clothing excess with a need. I was chatting with a friend a church who had just gone with a group to a Houston homeless shelter. They had taken things for the men but discovered they needed women’s clothing. I told her what I was doing in my closet and she said she would love to have the clothes for the shelter!

Possession Fast

I’ve been praying and thinking about what God would have me do regarding a “possessions fast.” Honestly, I don’t have an answer yet. I am asking God to connect specific needs with things I have, and help me give it cheerfully. (Maybe I’ll have an update on Thursday!)

In the meantime, I will continue to work on my closet and I am going to clear our half of my costume jewelry. (Did I mention I am also a jewelry hound? And no, I did not count this in the clothing area.) Clothing and accessories are definitely my problem areas.

Here are some suggestions for you from Jen Hatmaker:

Ask each family member to purge 7 items a day for the week.
Give away 7 items from every room and closet in your house.
Choose 7 categories to purge, like toys, kitchen goods, linens, etc.
Have a garage sale and use the proceeds to charity.
Sell big-ticket items online and donate the proceeds.

The key to breaking free from slavery to possessions is to open our hand and give. To swim upstream against the culture flow of acquiring more and more stuff. Freedom is found in giving.

Let’s talk about this. In what ways have you been held captive by possessions? What is God leading you to do this week to break free?