Storing Up Treasures

In researching my sermon for this past Sunday on Kingdom Priorities (Matthew 6:19-34), I discovered an article that was written for the New York Times Magazine in September of 2009.  The article was entitled, "The Self Storage Self" by Jon Mooallem.  It was a pretty amazing article that you may want to read yourself at the following link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06self-storage-t.html

Here are some things I gleaned from the article.  According to the president of a storage consulting group, "Human laziness has always been a big friend of self-storage operators."  This conclusion is based on the fact that people will store their stuff and leave it there not wanting to move it again.  Often times they will forget what they have put in their storage facility.

According to the Self Storage Association the United States now has about 2.3 billion square feet of storage space.  They indicate that this would be like building a giant canopy and having every person in America covered with seven square feet of space per person.  Being from the Chicago area I did some calculations based on the Merchandise Mart in Chicago.  That monstrous building is the world's largest commercial building boasting of 4.2 million square feet of gross space.  If my math is correct it would take over 500 Merchandise Marts to equal the square feet of storage space in the United States!

According to the article the original use of storage facilities was temporary.  People would rent space temporarily when between houses, or in difficult situations such as a divorce or death in the family.  But since the 1990's storage facilities have been places to accumulate our stuff.  The article quotes one sociologist who stated that the average consumer purchases one new piece of clothing every five and a half days.

Consider how you have personally accumulated stuff.  I remember as an incoming college freshman all my earthly belongings fit on one flatbed cart.  But even as a poor college student it took a pick up truck to move me out.  Now having been married 30 years and having three kids and a couple of grand kids, we have more and more stuff.  My guess is that I am not alone.  We seem to be natural accumulators of stuff.

So what is the point of all this?  For me it comes down to the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:19-21.  Jesus told us to not store up, or more literally hoard, treasures on earth but to store up treasures in heaven.  The point is not necessarily to get rid of all our material possessions but to make sure that our material possessions are not controlling our lives.  At the risk of sounding contradictory, I suggest that we give serious thought to what possessions we have that we really need and use and which ones are we holding on to because they give us a sense of security or some emotional attachment.

How can you tell the difference? I would suggest that you use the six month rule.  If I have not used something in the last six months then it may be possible that I no longer need it.  I understand, antiques and collections and hobbies, but the fact is that we will take none of those things with us.  Moreover, if we are refusing to hold them up to God in an open hand then they have become more than just collectibles they are becoming idols. 

This is not a call to move out of your house and live under a tree in the woods.  But it is a call to consider what value are you placing on your accumulated stuff?  Is it of such value that you have not given God permission to take it away?  If so then it is not an investment in eternity but an earthly investment and it has captured part of your heart that should belong to God.

Join me in asking God to teach us to travel light on our earthly journey.