Matthew 6:19-21

¹⁹ “[Jesus said] Don’t save treasures for yourselves here on earth. Moths and rust will destroy them. And thieves can break into your house and steal them. ²⁰ Instead, save your treasures in heaven, where they cannot be destroyed by moths or rust and where thieves cannot break in and steal them. ²¹ Your heart will be where your treasure is.”

This weekend, I sorted through some of the things in my closet: old shoes, notebooks filled with to-do-lists and sermon drafts, mismatched socks, postcards I purchased but never mailed, and a backpack with a broken zipper. Sometimes, I feel surrounded by “stuff”. It seems to accumulate without consent– how did it get to be so much?

As I was sorting through my things, I was reminded of Marie Kondo’s Netflix show where she helps families process through all their “stuff”. Our possessions can become emotionally charged. Some are relics of memories, like the postcards. Others offer the nagging feeling of guilt, like the pile of letters I haven’t gotten around to responding to. The Konmari method asks the question “Does this spark joy?” This isn’t the only important question to ask about our “stuff” (after all, dish soap doesn’t exactly spark joy, but I certainly need it!) but it is a good start.

The verses from the Gospel according to Matthew offer other wisdom about “stuff”: our earthly treasures are temporary. In some cases, they are literally built to break. They are finite resources and don’t offer all the joy they claim to. We store up treasures in heaven when we break the cycles of greed, consumerism, and rampant inequality; when we acknowledge the needs of our neighbors and respond with generosity; when we reject the idol-worship of newer and better products for purchase; when we consider the earth as our home rather than a pile of resources to be extracted.

This video offers an interesting perspective on the subject of “stuff”. Feel free to explore some of their other videos. How does our relationship with the things we own relate to the words of Jesus?