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Stuff, Stuff, and More Stuff

by Frana Hamilton  
4/01/2014 / Christian Living

I've been thinking a lot lately about stuff just stuff things we keep buying and accumulating. Most of us spend a lot of time wanting new things, then a lot of time acquiring the things we want, then a lot of time cleaning, and taking care of, and protecting all our stuff.

Once we get the object we desire, we need to keep it in running condition, decide whether to loan it out, and how to protect it so no one will steal it.

The more stuff we have the more time and energy it takes to protect it and maybe to decide where we want to display it. I mean, after all, now that I have got "it," I want to show it off.

Before we know it, we are tired of the new thing we have (sometimes before we have finished making the payments) and we are looking for new stuff.

Television, the internet, radio and Madison Avenue advertisers all seem to exist to make us discontented with what we have. They went us to crave new stuff. "This product is new and improved." "That product is cool." "You deserve this product." "That product will change your life."

Writer Elizabeth Underhill has said, "We spend most of our lives conjugating three verbs: to want, to have and to do." That has the ring of truth for me.

I once heard a preacher say that for the older generation (those who went through the Great Depression) the big worry was, "What if I don't have enough?" That would mean enough food or rent money or money to get my shoes repaired so I can walk to work.

The preacher went on to say that for the current generation, the question is, "What if I don't have enough to make me look good?"

I think he hit the nail on the head. So much of the advertising we see and hear today is about "looking good," "looking cool."

This is so different from what Jesus said in Luke 12:15, "A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." And in Matt. 6:34, our Lord admonished, "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself."

Jesis even told us that when we have food and clothes, we should be content. That's a pretty short list of "things we really need to make us contented."

In Hebrews 13:5, we are told "Let your conversation {manner of life} be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have." Obviously God does not want us to spend too much time thinking of what else we can acquire.

Well, this is the time we do our "spring cleaning." Perhaps it is time to re-think how much stuff we have and how we could simplify and streamline our lives if we had a lot less stuff. And maybe we need to think more about contentment.

Frana Hamilton is Director of Training at a vocational school where she teaches, advises and encourages out-of-work adults who need some training and a helpful boost to get them back into the workplace. She considers it a great privilege to have this ministry.

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