{"id":6655,"date":"2016-07-06T00:59:34","date_gmt":"2016-07-05T21:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/?p=6655"},"modified":"2016-07-06T01:05:05","modified_gmt":"2016-07-05T22:05:05","slug":"4-reasons-why-your-stuff-is-one-of-the-gospels-greatest-enemies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/4-reasons-why-your-stuff-is-one-of-the-gospels-greatest-enemies\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Reasons Why Your Stuff Is One of the Gospel’s Greatest Enemies"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have to admit there was a time in my life when Christina and I would walk through one of our favorite neighborhoods lined with turn of the century Victorian homes and Craftsmen style architecture.<\/p>\n

“Wouldn’t it be nice to have that one there?”<\/p>\n

We would often ask as we passed a particularly beautiful home.<\/p>\n

\"pablo\"At the time we were struggling seminary students. I had my own small painting business, trying to fit work in between seminary classes and church ministry. I would often come to class straight from work with no time to change out of my paint covered clothes. Thankfully my professors were gracious enough to allow for that transgression of school dress code!<\/p>\n

Needless to say, our growing family, school bills, and every-day life stretched our bank account thin. Somehow we always had just enough survive but never quite enough to acquire even a small home for ourselves.<\/p>\n

At the time we often thought of how much better our lives would be if we could get out of our small two 1.5 bedroom apartment. We thought a home would really complete our lives and we were a bit disappointed that we just couldn’t seem to make it work.<\/p>\n

Looking back I am very grateful that God saw fit for us not to buy a home.<\/p>\n

Looking back I can now clearly see that the addition of a home at that time in our lives would have significantly slowed my seminary education and certainly would have greatly delayed, our arrival as missionaries in Ukraine. In fact it may have even completely changed our plans and we may have not even ended up in Ukraine!<\/p>\n

This is just one example of how stuff can significantly get in the way of the gospel in our lives if we’re not careful.<\/p>\n

A History of hoarding<\/h2>\n

I’m convinced that a few generations down the road our great great grandchildren\u00a0will write our history and it about the horrors of hoarding culture in the West. They will write about garages full of new unused sports equipment, families who have more cars than family members, and mobile telephones that have to be trashed every year or two.<\/p>\n

What does this have to do with the gospel?<\/h2>\n

Bulge-buying, hoarding, discount disease, call it whatever you want,\u00a0it’s bad enough in and of its self. However, what I’m more concerned about is the impact our overflowing storage rooms have on the gospel. And believe me it does have an impact!<\/p>\n

Sometimes we can be very dualistic in our approach to the gospel. Stuff is physical, but gospel is spiritual, so how can one really affect the other? We need to put aside our binary ideas and realize that life and the gospel are holistic.<\/p>\n

Your stuff is mainly the result of the desires you have and decisions you’ve made. How Biblically informed were those desires and decisions?<\/p>\n

Your possessions can be a very good indicator of your spiritual health!<\/p>\n

Not are your things the result of your spiritual condition, but your things can greatly influence your future relation to the gospel and ability to share the gospel with others.<\/p>\n

Here are a few ways your stuff could be an enemy to the gospel.<\/h2>\n

1. Stuff distracts\u00a0you<\/h3>\n

Very simply it keeps your mind preoccupied. The more you have the more you have to think about.<\/p>\n