( Someone--that would be me, Sherry Poff--goofed and failed to assign anyone to write for this week's Cup. I have reached back into the archives and found this gem written by Lynda about four years ago. It speaks to me, as I have been in the midst of doing some cleaning out. I know it will bless you as well.)
In obedience to a recent suggestion from our insurance agent, I set about photographing and listing our possessions. I told him it didn’t seem important, as our things are few and old. But he wanted to talk about “replacement value.” So I dutifully laid out and cataloged all our worldly goods. If you haven’t done it, you should. Not for your insurance agent; for yourself. It’s an eye-opener.
To no one in American culture would we seem affluent, but this girl who grew up dirt-poor felt rich, rich, rich when thinking of replacement value. At the same time, I began to feel burdened with “stuff.” How many Phillips screwdrivers do we really need? (And with all these in the house, why can I not find the size I need when I want one?) Do I really want to give the storage space to these fabrics I have had for so long?
I thought about the photos our missionaries to Africa have shown us of families whose possessions are a one-room home with mud walls, sleeping mats, a water jug and a cooking pot, and the clothes on their backs. If the lady of the hut is a Christian, what, of value, do I have that she does not?
Luke 12:13-15 tells us, “Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’”
At that point, Jesus told the parable of the rich man and his new barns, concluding with, “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” ESV
What difference does it make whether our items are many or few, valuable or worthless, if one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions?
Some items are irreplaceable, like my mother’s 1950 china cabinet and the yo-yo doll my grandmother made. But what difference does it make, if one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions?
Do I place undue value on my world treasures, compared to my God riches? Do I even recognize my God riches, or am I so absorbed in my world riches that I cannot see the valuable ones? Does “Count Your Blessings” turn into a recitation of “things”? Can I catalog my God riches? Probably not. Should I focus on things to which I cannot account definable value? Jesus thinks so.
Some ladies like to “shop ‘til you drop.” Not me; I hate shopping. Some delight in chasing after yard sales. I did formerly; now I feel I don’t have room for more stuff. Couponing is a favorite way of acquiring goods for many. I like the approach of a friend who said, years ago, “I just tell the Lord what I need and how much I can spend on it, and He brings it to me.” But, regardless of our methods of spending or saving or getting, these things do not have nearly the importance we assign them.
Jesus wants us to become rich. His riches are not in our bank accounts, living rooms, closets or storage sheds. The treasure is in His Word.
--Lynda Shenefield
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