19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
22 “Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. 23 But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!
24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
- Matthew 6:19-24
I was at the airport a few days ago, heading back to New York after spending a wonderful 2 weeks at home for the holidays. And as any college kid does, I had manage to take everything I could fit into my suitcase. Because as a wise person once said “the more you bring from home, the less you buy on your own.”
It was me. I’m the wise person.
So when it came time for me to put my luggage on the scale and it weighed 55.6 pounds, I was in a bit of a pickle. The lady kindly told me I was more than welcome to shift some things around among the bags I had with me in order to bring the weight down. I then proceeded to sit on the airport floor and negotiate with the 4 body washes, 6 candles, and countless bags of pretzels about who should be eliminated.
As I am sitting there, rummaging through multiple pairs of jeans and shoes, I start thinking about how ridiculous this is! I had over 50 pounds of STUFF! And that was just the stuff I travelled with. A slimmed down version of all the things I actually own. And here I am weeping over a tobacco and sandalwood candle I may have to give to the Delta employee because there’s simply no room for it in my luggage.
Why was I so attached to the things in my suitcase? Why was I letting stuff effect my happiness?
Because our world is all about stuff. We collect things, buy things, trade things, all to acquire more stuff. This world quickly teaches us that the more money you have, the better you are. The more things you have, the richer you are.
So how do we stop letting stuff effect our happiness?
We stop turning to it, and start turning to the Word of God.
Let God’s word be the first thing you go to when you’re feeling defeated, depressed, happy or joyful. When you are having one of those days where the world is seemingly against you, rather than opening an account on ShopBop, open the Word of God and be reminded of the unconditional joy found in his love. When you’re having a wonderful day filled with happiness and gratitude, open the Word of God and thank Him for the sky and the stars. When we start to associate happiness with God, we stop associating happiness with stuff.
God is forever, stuff is fleeting.
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