Toongabbie Anglican Church Blog

Weekly Blurb

Of the accumulation of stuff there is no end

Sunday 18 February, 2007 · Posted by Philip Bassett

Margaret and I have started packing for our move. You obtain some boxes, you tape their bottoms and you start putting your stuff in them. Stuff! I never realized just how much stuff we have. From my study alone I have so far filled three wheelie bins with unwanted stuff; I have filled 18 book cartons with books and other stuff and I’ll probably need another half dozen or so to finish the job. And this is after I have given away a whole lot of stuff.

In the wardrobe we discovered a whole lot of clothes that we’ve kept for years even though we know we’ll never wear them again. Then there’s all those treasured items given to us by well-meaning friends and relatives as presents on various occasions. You dare not throw them out but Oh wouldn’t it be nice if somehow they just disappeared in the shuffle.

The comedian Bill Cosby used to do a monologue routine about owning stuff. “When you die, the one with the most stuff wins.” Is the line I remember best.

In Luke 18 we have this parable of Jesus; “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

The writer of Ecclesiastes wrote (Ecc. 5:11):

“ As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them?”

An extremely rich man died and at the funeral someone asked the minister, “How much did he leave?” The minister replied, “Everything.”

The things we own can make life very pleasant and we are meant to enjoy them and thank God for them but as Jesus said later in Luke 12: “the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”

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