In one 10′ by 11′ bedroom, there were 11 pictures on the walls, most of them large, along with 7 pennants of amusement parks. On three long book shelves there were 32 dolls dressed various ways to represent different countries and cultures. Beneath the book shelves was a bookcase containing 25 stuffed animals. Alongside that was a desk decorated with a bunch of special stickers. One drawer was filled with 96 items of furniture fora doll house. A little table held 5 music boxes. We opened one side of a closet and counted 9 shoe boxes, all filled. There was no need to proceed — the room was filled with “stuff.”
Childish things
Obviously the room was occupied by a girl, probably in her preteens, with all her precious collections gathered about. From the room we were looking at, another problem was fast approaching. She would soon need more bookshelf space if she was to collect more stuff. A bigger closet would surely be required if more shoes were obtained. And between a bigger closet and more book shelves, the room would be too small: a bigger room, would be required for all the “stuff.”
We can probably smile at the situation, perhaps remembering our own little collections that seemed so precious in our childhood days. As we grew to maturity and recognized right priorities we learned that “a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth.” Or did we?
We may not decorate the walls with pennants of an amusement part but we may change the wallpaper every two years and the drapes every three. We may not buy stuffed animals but we may buy an excess of stuffed chairs and decorator pillows. We may not collect music boxes but we have thousands of dollars in home audio equipment.
Then when it comes time to move, we look around and say, “where did all this stuff come from?” Put all together, the stuff had required a bigger dresser, a bigger room, a bigger house. And when we look at the cost of a new house, we wonder if maybe we had better look for a bigger job or consider the need for two incomes for the family.
Spenders
For people living in developed countries, North Americans spend a much higher percentage of their income than do people living in Europe or Japan. What are we spending the money on? In many cases, it is on “stuff” about as necessary and about as useful as the trivia that filled that 10′ by 11′ bedroom.
Taken item by item, the “stuff” we buy seems innocent enough. Much of it was on sale at the time or provided just a little boost to our spirits. And furthermore, what do our mundane habits have to do with any great spiritual principles? They can have a lot!
Nickel and dime
By dribbling our money away on trivialities, we can nickel and dime ourselves to death. We find ourselves chronically short of money and can’t remember where it has all gone. There has been no single big purchase, no large orders at the grocery store, but the money is gone and now we need it for something necessary.
A chronic shortage of cash can put significant pressure on our marriage, it can interfere with our ability to help others in need and it can lead to a mental preoccupation with temporal matters.
Most marriages don’t fail to reach an exalted potential because of a major crisis. Most of them fall short because of small, nagging, daily problems. In our culture, the most common of these on-going irritants is trouble over money. And in many cases, the money trouble is coming from one or both partners wasting money on “stuff.” What seems like a trivial part of our life can be contributing to our failure to fulfill the wonderful divine parable of marriage.
“Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth” (Eph. 4:28). While we may be repelled by the thought of stealing from a store counter, what about the godly attribute of thinking of others? A motive that the disciple should have in his daily labor and in the management of his resources is not only his own needs but also those of others in the community. At this very time, the CBMA is short of needed funds for proclaiming the word of life and some of us will not be able to help because we’ve dribbled our money away on “stuff.”
In addition, there is the preoccupation of our heart and mind. If we are in constant financial trouble, the problem occupies much or our thinking. Even when it is not in our conscious thought, the concern nags at the back of our mind, inhibiting peace of mind and meditation upon spiritual matters.
While all the “stuff” around may appear to be unrelated to eternal things, a moment’s reflection reveals implications that cannot be ignored.
A tranquilizer
Sometimes we can look around us and wonder why we ever bought some items in the first place. We could have managed without them.
But we never made the expenditure out of need; we did it for enjoyment. We enjoyed buying the clothing for ourself or our children; we enjoyed planning the new color scheme for the living room and shopping around for the drapes and wallpaper. Some of the boredom of life was relieved, or we were able to escape the stress of daily pressure, or we took a family outing to the mall and just happened to see something as we wandered about the shops.
Life can be hectic today and buying new treats can provide a needed bit of pleasure but it can also have very detrimental consequences.
Our tranquilizer must be the hope that lies before us. Let us fix our gaze on the kingdom which will not be filled with trivial and useless “stuff” but which will be dominated by the development of righteousness, judgment and loving-kindness throughout the world. Let the possibility of our participation in the rulership of that age be our great interest and then “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One