Possessions or God

Possessions, People, or God

The other day, well some years ago actually, I was at a meeting of well-meaning folk wanting to start a kids football club. We met in the pub. The ‘chairman’ of the meeting, perhaps too grandiose a title, had come with various pieces of paper but no pen. One of the other parents offered him one so he could make notes. At some point, the borrowed pen fell to the bare stone flags which were the floor. The owner was very angry. “That’s a Cross pen”, he thundered. A wag among us said, “I expect it is – that’s a stone floor.” Unwise choice of words – the aggrieved parent lost it – over a pen. Very sad.

Why on earth had I remembered this, I wondered. The answer was not long in coming, “Because people place more value in possessions than they do in other people, or Me.” It was an inanimate object that had assumed greater value in its owners eyes.

I wonder, do you or I place more importance on our possessions than we should? Are the things that we own, those things that make us what we are? Are our earthly possessions the things that define us as Christians? Have we been storing up that which does not last; that which will rust and fade?

Jesus warned us against this in Matthew 6:19-20, 32-33 (NASB) “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 neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal”

“For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and  all these things will be  added to you.”

Likewise, we sometimes put all our trust into man when God says, in Psalm 146:3 “Do not trust in princes, In mortal  man, in whom there is no salvation.” I can hear some of you now, “It’s all right for you but, were it not for man, helping his fellow man, we would have sunk long ago.” Yes, but who put the man in your path in order to help you? God did. Who gave him the means to help you? God did. Our lives are known to God from before we were born until after we are gone. By Him, we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and He knows our every thought, word, decision, and movement.

God cares for those whom He has created. Listen to Him. Look to Him for your salvation – not just your soul, but also your life.