Crossinator

I want more stuff, I want stuff until my closets are overflowing with junk I don't need or want anymore.

Ok maybe not, I don't really like junk and always ask for and want practical gifts for Christmas and my birthday. I've been more excited about getting a window fan, pillow, and socks for my birthday than some new or hip gadget I don't have a use for!

I know I'm weird, most people want more, bigger and better, everyone wants to keep up with their neighbors (even if they aren't named Jones). Is it wrong to want stuff?

It all depends on your perspective according to this week's message at church: My Life: My Stuff.

Chris used the sad but true stories of parents who get caught up in Little League games and forget about the true meaning of the games. He also told the story from Matthew 9:18-26, in which a Jewish ruler comes to Jesus because his daughter had died. In verse 24 Jesus says that the girl is not dead but only sleeping. This was to illustrate how God's perspective is different than ours.

He also used this well-known passage:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

I found this message to be right on the spot and something I needed to be reminded of. While the main thrust of the message could be pointed towards worldly materialism on the broad scale, it comes back home when we start looking at the little things we place between ourselves and God.

As one of the series theme verses says:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' Mark 12:30

This week's program summary says:

This week, we have begun to see that God being in our lives requires us to recognize that all that is in our possession is His. This is a difficult thing for us to grasp. But, as we follow Him and trust Him, we learn to hold on to things loosely.

This week's journal questions are:

• What things are nearest and dearest to your heart?
• What things do you hold tightly to the most? Why?
• What things are easier to release to God? Why?
• What does it look like to "Seek the Kingdom of God" (Matthew 6:33)?
• What do your possessions have to do with the Great Commission? (Matthew 28:19-20)
• Write a prayer to God about your desire to have a heart that is more like His.
• Write about what you have learned about God and yourself this week.