After my dad had passed away, my mom moved in with my brother and we were left with the task of cleaning out their house. For most, this is not a problem. However, my parents were hoarders, so there was a ton of junk in that house. They could not bear to part with anything. As we were cleaning, I found receipts from thirty years prior. Can you believe that! Thirty years! I know my parents aren't the only ones who have this problem. They have whole TV shows dedicated to this problem. Many people have "things" they don't know they have and haven't missed in fifteen years. Yet, as I write this, I'm reminded of what God has to say about this condition. None of it is good. For riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations". " What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?" However, I think the story that Jesus told of the master who was going away and gave one man five bags of gold, another two bags of gold, and to another one bag of gold. When the master came back, The person with only one bag of gold was dismissed or let go not because he spent his money wastefully but because he hoarded what he had. He dug a hole and buried it. Whether it's things or money, God expects a return on what he gives us. The bigger problem is that when we hoard money or things we are, in reality saying, "God, I don't trust you. I don't believe you will provide what I need, so I have to hold on to this." Hoarding is a lack of faith in God, pure and simple. What we often forget is that we will take none of the things that we work so hard for with us when we die. People will not take a U-Haul with them when they die. Besides that, the streets of heaven are gold so your riches will be of no use there. My friends let us remember that God wants us to trust him with our finances. He wants us to use every bit of everything we have wisely not wasting but not hoarding it either. I'm not saying it's wrong to have things as long as we can remember that everything we have, comes from God, and we may answer to God for what we did with it. Set some limits. If you have more Jeans than you can wear now; you may not need to buy that fifteenth pair of jeans.
