If Jesus is all I want, why do I have so much stuff? This is something I've been thinking about lately.
I posed this question to my husband the other day. His response was that we, even as Christians, have bought into the "American Dream". My retort: But we're not Americans; we're Christians.
Jesus once said that it was easier for a rich man to go through the eye of the needle than it was for him to go to heaven. I spent so much of my life thinking that it must be impossible for rich people to go to heaven, then, because how on earth could a camel get through the eye of a needle? Later, I learned what this really meant: The needle was a big gate into Jerusalem. At night, they would close it, but leave a smaller gate open ("the eye of the needle"). If a traveler came through at this time, he would have to take ALL of his luggage off of his camel, and the camel would have to essentially crawl through the gateway. Ahh. Now I see - tough, but not altogether impossible.
I notice that just about every time I've heard this passage preached on lately, they always make the same comment: "this doesn't mean you have to get rid of all your stuff." But what if it does?
I've been thinking about how much stuff we (my husband and I) have lately. And honestly, if you looked at our apartment, you probably wouldn't think we have a lot of stuff. You might be right. We spent 3 years sharing a (separate from each other) dorm room with someone else - minimizing stuff and maximizing space was essential. (We could each fit all of our stuff into our own car at this point.) When we got married, we moved into a one bedroom, less than 500 sq. ft apartment. We had sold some of our college stuff (dorm room fridges, for example), and gotten some new stuff (like a couch and a table), but let me tell you - space was CRAMPED in that place. Nathan's mom sent us home from one visit with a box of stuff once and I about had a meltdown about where we were going to fit it.
Now - we live in a two bedroom apartment. I haven't actually measured out the area, but I'd bet it's at least twice as big as our last apartment. It's WONDERFUL! And I've been in some other houseparent's apartments - same area, way less space. We probably have no more than half of what they've crammed into their living room. And yet ...we still have so much junk. We've got some pillows and blankets in a box that we never even unpacked - proof that we don't need or use them. We have so much stuff in our house, even unpacked, that we don't use, and quite frankly, don't need.
If Jesus is all I want, then why do I have so much junk? Well, here's my point: Maybe I don't have as much of Jesus as I want, because I've got so much stuff I don't want. ...Maybe I don't have as much of Jesus as I need, because I've got so much stuff I don't need.
To those pastors (or speakers; to be fair, I know one of the ones who said this was a our SGA chaplain - and not even a Bible major) who say that you don't have to get rid of all your stuff: I get where you're coming from. You don't HAVE to get rid of all your stuff to be able to go to heaven; it's about making sure your priorities are right. Understood.
But maybe we need, if nothing else, that challenge to get rid of all our stuff. Maybe we need that heart-check to see if our priorities are right.
I don't know about you, but if Jesus is all I want, then I don't need so much stuff.
