One winter day, a man returned to his car from shopping in his local neighborhood mall. He noticed a strange, foul smell from under his hood. He checked the engine. He saw there, a dead cat that had been mutilated from the fan belt. The poor cat had sought shelter on the warm engine and did not realize the danger he was in.
The man obtained a plastic bag and collected all the parts of the cat into the bag. He closed the hood, left the plastic bag on the hood and went to wash his hands. As he was coming back, from a distance, he saw a woman walk by, see the bag, look both ways, grab the bag, and hurry off into the mall.
The man thought to himself with a smile, “This is going to be good!” So, he followed the woman back into the mall to see what would happen. The woman goes into a restaurant, sits down and takes a closer look at her prize. When she realizes what she has stolen, she screams and faints! They call an ambulance and they come and check her and start to load her into the ambulance. As they wheel the bed out the door of the restaurant, the man could not resist… “Hey lady!” He calls as he tosses the bag on her chest, “Don’t forget your package!”
The stuff of this life – most of the stuff that we spend so much money on – is the equivalent of a mutilated cat, compared to the spiritual things that ought to take priority in our lives. But getting our lives wrapped up in stuff is nothing new; it is certainly common to all human beings of all time.
My purpose in this lesson is to challenge our commitment, to challenge us to be committed to contentment and use our funds, perhaps, more wisely for spiritual purposes than cramming more stuff into our garages or storage facilities. There are dozens of storage facilities in Flint. I am not passing judgment on any individual person but that sounds to me like a lot of us have a problem with contentment and “stuff-itis” – the addiction to buying stuff we don’t need.
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Certainly, being wealthy is not sinful in and of itself. Wealth is a gift from God (Deut. 8:18; James 1:17). Clearly, “rich” is a relative term. Few Americans probably think they are rich, unless they were to compare their lifestyle with most of the rest of the world.
Not being content with what we have can be indicative of a heart full of greed. Solomon was not able to satisfy his eyes (Ecc. 5:10-13). But being spiritual beings, we ought not to find satisfaction with physical things. If we are not looking for satisfaction with physical things, then why do we spend so much money on physical things?
Additionally, getting caught up in accumulating “stuff” can cause us to abuse what we do have. The prodigal son (Luke 15) learned that it is far easier to find friends to help you spend your money rather than save your money! And in the parable of talents in Matthew 25, we see that the Master at least wanted interest in what He had given! We need to be wise stewards of our material blessings.
We might need to reprioritize our love for things with the need to share the Gospel with others and help the poor.
Paul Holland
