Several years ago my mom told me that I was not allowed to get her anything for Christmas that she had to store or dust. I have found that to be a good rule of thumb that I have tried to abide by myself. I am sometimes shocked about how much stuff I have accumulated over the past few years. Clothes, electronics, pictures, and loads of books for school have all come into my house… without many things leaving. And once I gain more possessions, I have to have places to store them which means bookcases, storage bins, and hiding things under my bed. It seems like a never ending cycle of buy, organize, store (wash, rinse, repeat!)

One of my professors has instilled in his students the dangers of modernism, consumerism, and comfort. We are in a real way owned by our possessions instead of the other way around. My car requires maintenance and upkeep, my computer needs a printer and external hard drive, my camera needs a case, a charger, extra memory cards…and on and on ad nauseum. This does not mean that it is always wrong to own things, but one must check his motives for accumulating or hoarding. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was martyred at the end of WWII, said in his book The Cost of Discipleship “Earthly goods are given to be used, not to be collected.” I think that I often aim to collect, more often than I desire to use my goods wisely.

It makes me sad to see how tied to this world I am. I like comfort and to be surrounded by stuff I’ve worked hard to buy, but I hate how owned I feel sometimes. When I think about my future, I don’t want things like moving to a different state or engaging in overseas missions to be out of the question because of fears like, “What would I do with my books while I was gone?” or “How much stuff would fit in my suitcase?” At the end of life, we can take nothing with us. Since believers in Jesus are called “Citizens of Heaven” we can begin the process of “unattaching” ourselves from this world in preparation for the one to come. After all, the Gospel of Matthew reminds us, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:21) Notice that it does not say, “For where your heart is, there your treasure will be.” We may think that our hearts are in heaven, but our fetters of earthly goods may prove otherwise. But we can concentrate on getting the treasure where it should be and our hearts will naturally follow suit. So here’s to spring cleaning, charitable giving and garage sale-ing with renewed vigor because I know I am breaking the fetters of this world in preparation for one to come! (Plus, I won’t have to dust as much anymore!)