Too much stuff can spoil the joy

We are thinking here about the topic of owning stuff. Did you know that everything God provides for us is for our enjoyment? 1 Timothy ch6 v17 says so. Look at the passage and take note of the warnings attached to “having” though. Once you have absorbed those warnings let us turn our attention back to our provisions being for our enjoyment.

In a moment take your eyes off the computer screen and look around you if you are reading this in your own home. Do the things you see bring you joy? Are there lots of things which do not bring you joy? Something does not have to be beautiful to be pleasurable to have—it may be useful and bring you enjoyment for that reason, or it may have sentimental value to you. Is there lots of rubbish? Are there things which need mending but you haven’t bothered with? Is there lots of stuff that belongs to other people which you wish you didn’t have to live with?

In Britain most people own so much stuff that there is no longer enjoyment in what we have. Owning many things and having lots of rooms to house them brings much hard work and responsibility. We become “maintenance men” busy from morning to night pursuing standards and wearying ourselves to such an extent that we fall into bed at night and say, “sorry God, I’m too tired to talk to you again today but I do love you really. Good night.”