Rich Man…can you buy a kingdom?
August 7th, 2009
Riches and downsizing are not usually two things that are put together. But I concede that they are indeed connected. Today we, Americans, are rich. we live better than many people in the world. Even our poorest live richly by world standards. We have things, things, and more things. I am the first to admit, things in and of themselves are not bad, but I am living a repeat lesson about things and in my experience God provides repeat lessons to me when he is concerned with me getting the message clearly. The repeat of this message has begun to sear into my consciousness the fact that our riches can be hazardous to obtaining the kingdom of God.
The “kingdom of God”…is a discussion for another time, but I would challenge you first to consider what that really is. I won’t provide the answer, although I have forced myself to ponder the answer in my own life and come to a God-instructed resolve about what the “kingdom of God” really is. But for the sake of this mental and spiritual exercise, I am assuming that the “kingdom of God” is a good thing and what we are in pursuit of. With that being said…let me give you my lesson in true fairy tale form!
Once upon a time…(and if you’ve read some of my writings over the past two years you’ll have a clearer picture of what life has looked like for me)…I had a father who was terminally ill and came to live with me so that I could provide care for him. After a peaceful but fatal bout with cancer, my father’s mortal body passed away and was regally laid to rest in the veteran’s memorial cemetery. The history is that in the process of moving my father from California to Georgia, I had to secure a new house. The house was a big house with lots of rooms. I also had to have my loft apartment (a meager 2 bedroom loft with probably only 1000 sq ft) and his California bungelow of 1400 square feet and storage treasures that were all delivered to the new house that had already been outfitted with things and furnishings and stuff of its own. So the convergence of his, mine and our stuff happened. Not only did the convergence happen, but a brand new storage building came in to accomodate the overflow of tools and more “stuff”…all wonderful in its own right.
Some of you might be saying “stuff, glorious stuff..” And for a while so was I. I could ignore the stuff, espcially the stuff tucked away in nice boxes in the back yonder storage building. But there came a point where God decided…”this shall be the time to downsize the stuff!” I can almost hear the deep regal voice of God (why does deep and regal sound like God to me…another thought trail to follow on a sunny day while laying on a picnic blanket in the park!) letting me know that a new adventure was coming and that it was time to downsize. Now this had not been the first time I had gotten this set of instructions. Since returning to Georgia, i had downsized several times. The loft was so far the epitome of downsize. I had moved from a 3 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom townhouse to the 2 bedroom loft apartment. I had streamlined the stuff. I had given away the dish sets that had 32 plates. I had gotten rid of many of the clothes that had lingered unseen and unused. I had freecycled the craft projects that had no chance of being completed. I had donated the books taht were only of passing entertainment interest. I had fixed my mind on “less”.
But the downsize with my fathers things caused a different level of separation anxiety. There was a lifetime of tings that my father had collected, all which has some specific relevenace to his life at some point. The stuff was overwhelming and I felt myself want to just keep it all. But I was to learn the lesson. So to aid in my education, God provided a wonderful lady to come and help with the sorting, and the ebay selling and the garage selling of the stuff. I would say “sell” and then say “well…maybe not” and she would reiterate the lack of justificaiton for keeping the unneeded. But I remember teh emotional turmoil of simply getting rid of stuff. At one point of breakdown I remember standing in the dark, in the driveway, in the spinkling warm rain…crying. Wondering why I have such an attachment to mere things, especially when God had said to downsize…
And then the spiritual lesson hit home.
If there is anything, spelled ANYTHING, that would hinder one from doing the will of God it is an idol.
Ezekiel 14.1-11: Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down in front of me. 2Then the word of the Lord came to me: 3“Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? 4Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When any of the Israelites set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces and then go to a prophet, I the Lord will answer them myself in keeping with their great idolatry. 5I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.’ 6“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices! 7“ ‘When any of the Israelites or any foreigner residing in Israel separate themselves from me and set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces and then go to a prophet to inquire of me, I the Lord will answer them myself. 8I will set my face against them and make them an example and a byword. I will remove them from my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 9“ ‘And if the prophet is enticed to utter a prophecy, I the Lord have enticed that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel. 10They will bear their guilt—the prophet will be as guilty as the one who consults him. 11Then the people of Israel will no longer stray from me, nor will they defile themselves anymore with all their sins. They will be my people, and I will be their God, declares the Sovereign Lord.’ ”
Ok so this passage is talking about idols and I know the first thing that comes to my mind is little statues sitting on a fireplace mantle. But our stuff and our clutter has for many of us become our idols. We go out and work at jobs that provide us with a false man-power fueled sense of security. We buy things and more things and horde them in our homes. And then if that wasn’t bad enough, we go out and buy more to add to the collections of stuff we have.
I am in another situation where God is showing me the repeated lesson. I am living with a roommate and I am working to get the apartment organized (her stuff). In going through boxes and bags of her collections of stuff, I am noticing things that haven’t been seen in several years. But each time i present her with the option of discarding..she opts to keep. There were several hundred pounds of clothing items to sort and after they were folded for viewing she was given a BIG box and the option of discarding the unwanted, unused items. At he culmination of that activity, the BIG box held four garments. A side note is that every available closet is already packed with clothes on hangers (sometimes two garments on each hanger). There would not be enough hangers or space for the newly sorted stuff, nor the boxes of other stuff that is simply being moved and restacked into a more efficient system. The stuff creates a sense of comfort i suppose. But the lesson has reemerged. What would God have me to do, and how much separation anxiety would it be to walk away from some of my stuff to “do it”. And that is the picture that I am seeing most will have in the days to come.
This article was not meant to be a sermon, but old habits die hard. Take a minute to do some personal reflection. Close your eyes if that helps. If you were asked to be ready to leave in 30 minutes and that only what you could take with you in your hands in 30 minutes would be allowed, what would you do? What would you take? How would you feel? I don’t need the answer, but perhaps it is a worthwhile exercise for you to do. If the exercise seems simple, move the challenge to the next step. Take one closet and downsize it accordingly. Discard every clothing item in it that has not been worn in the past three months. Get rid of any box that has not been opened in that same time frame. Sell, give away, throw away or burn it! How comfortable is that? If that seemed simple, increase the challenge and go through your pantry. Look at all of the things on your shelf that are just “there” and give them away.
It’s not the stuff that keeps us out of the kingdom of God. It’s our inability to detach from the stuff that makes it an idol. For some its money for others its simply stuff, tv’s fancy cars, fancy houses.
Matthew 5: 29If your right eye causes you to stumble,gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
While this verse is referring to adultry specifically, the priniciple that it presents is worthwhile when looking at our lives. If there is anything - any stuff - that would cause us to hesitation in answering the directives of God, we need to get rid of it or get over it!
I believe there will be at time coming soon where our nation will be in crisis. For some, many, I think the greater emotional crisis will be the separation anxiety that occurs when we are challenged to leave our things and go. You can prepare for the potential physical threats, but emotionally we must be able to stand strong. I remember my driveway breakdown…the feeling of anxiety and loss at seeing “things” go. But I eperienced that loss perhaps to gain an insight to share with others.
Lesson to self #1: Don’t grow emotionally attached to things.
Lesson to self #2: Things are to be used, not loved.
Lesson to self #3: What idols am I holding onto? (I have a few…and I’m working on it….if God said Go and leaveth your laptop…i might have an emotional breakdown!)
Lesson to self #4: God gives us lessons and refresher courses when he wants us to get the point. This is the refresher course.
Lesson to self #5: Letting go of stuff is freeing AFTER the stuff is gone, NOT before or DURING the downsizing.
Lesson to self #6: No one cares how much stuff you have. You only think they care! And who cares what they think? Care more about what God things!
Lesson to self #7: Get more is not always a God thing! Beware not to let stuff become an obstacle