Having Stuff!

 

There is an industry that has grown in the last years in our area and across the country called the self-storage industry.     There are several self-storage facilities within miles of our home.   Of course, some of those self storage facilities serve an important purpose for those who are in transition from one home to another.   I have known, for example, children that used self storage facilities when they were between semesters in college.   I recall that our daughter used a self storage facility for their furniture when they were living overseas.   

One of the reasons why some people use self storage facilities is because they have more stuff than their home can hold.   We live in a world where so many of us have more stuff that we live with and perhaps not enough to live for.    Perhaps you have tuned in on television to one of those shows that features the story of a person that is a hoarder.   It may be that you know someone whose home is overflowing with so much stuff.

Before you think that this is just another rant on how materialistic we have become today,   think of this spiritual truth:  followers of Christ serve a materalistic God.    In Christmas,  we celebrate (as John 1 puts it)  “and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.”    A limitless, eternal God came among us in human flesh and material in a way that humanity could see and touch.  

The fact that God came among us in human material certainly does not make it acceptable for us to build our lives around so much stuff, for the God who came in the flesh did not even have a home to lay his head.      Thanks be to God for the One who came among us in the flesh, Jesus Christ, and who offers us the hope of a “house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”     Have a joy-filled day.-   Pastor Randy Wall  

 

PRAYER

O God, thank you for the Word made flesh that dwelt among us, Jesus Christ.    Help me to put my trust more fully in you, and less in things;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen.