|
First off: Having stuff is good. Having stuff isnât bad. In the first 6 days of Godâs creation, He made a lot of good, GOOD stuff. Things that help us accomplish our God-given missions are good! Food is a gift to the hungry. Space, provisions, and power to do good is GOOD STUFF! <- Now that we know this, letâs ask a few defining questions about stuff: |
-Â Could we be filling a hole in our hearts with styrofoam when we reach for more stuff? Does it really help us to dump another pastry or coffee or sandwich into our tummy when the internal spiritual tankâs empty? |
Drâs say weâre often thirsty (not hungry) when we snack. Could our desire for more stuff sometimes be a bait & switch? Could our buying habits be connected to a hole in the soul? If so, then filling spiritual emptiness with physical stuff would be a massive miss. If we misdiagnose this problem, we only become more desperate when we go for more stuff that wonât satisfy.
|
-Â Got space for that thing? Physically, calendar/time-wise, storage-wise, heart-wise? Accommodating incoming stuff almost always demands more of a limited resource â that goes back to US, the men who most likely manage that space â and the stuff. |
-Â A Pace of Grace: Itâs good to be patient before acquiring more stuff. Why not let a potential purchase rest on our hearts before committing to it? Ask those you trust about their experiences with a similar investment. What would they do it differently? Ask for some pros and cons. |
|
-Â Compare and contrast good purchases: Where have we said, âI wish Iâd made that purchase a long time ago!â? Or, âHowâd we ever got along without this?â What are the good, teachable moments which we could find inside our GOOD purchases? |
After exploring good news, take the risk of comparing and contrasting a few BAD purchases. What can we discover there? What cycles or preconditions surround those good/bad purchases?
|
-Â Has there been a noticeable need for months? Years? Have you noticed a longing for it? Will it help/bless others with health, life, or fulfillment? Does it further a pure mission? |
|
Jesus said weâd receive when we asked, sought, and knocked (Matt 7). He built us to have needs â and for those needs to be satisfied IN HIM. God challenges us to go for the good stuff and not be lulled by unsatisfying stuff. One GOOD thing we can do for our souls right now: Put this reading aside for a few and soak in the first verses of Isaiah 55 in relation to âstuff choices.â This we need in our knower: Things will never satisfy. Many things promise but donât deliver. I thought travel would deliver more. What I discovered was this: Travel highlighted the internal condition. Travel, like trials, causes whateverâs inside - good and bad things - to come to the surface. Travel offered space for joy to bubble up in new and exciting dimensions. Also, incomplete and frustrated spaces inside me were also churned up by travel.
Similarly, good stuff can propel us toward a deeper Why. Bad acquisitions, however, disappoint, deflate, and highlight significant emptiness.
Itâs that way with marriage, money, experience, influence, etc⌠âBenefitsâ are good in their own right. However, onboarding them will expose our cracks. Adding rooms to a house that isnât built on the rock just hastens the fall of that house. Our remedy? -- Shift all our efforts to building our lives on the Rock Himself â even when it comes to our stuff. |
