Message Summary:
Accumulations are a part of life and we all have some. But
there’s a constant need to really remember what is important.
“He took his wife Sarai, his
nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people
they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan,
and they arrived there” (Genesis 12:5).
An
interesting factoid in the April 2016 Reader’s Digest states that
having $77,000 in assets puts you in the world’s wealthiest 10%.
Actually given the abject poverty many live under it seems that the
percentage is high although it’s not stated whether the $77,000 is an
average or median amount. Regardless, although most of us would
probably not describe ourselves as rich, nearly all of us are probably
in a top percentage of having the world’s wealth.
Brooksyne
and I will celebrate our 40th
anniversary next month. When we married in 1976 I moved all the stuff I
wanted
from my childhood in a small trailer and pulled it behind my car from
the
Kansas City area to our first
house (parsonage) near Springfield, Missouri. My mattress caught fire
on the way
and I had to pitch it
off to the side of US Route 50,
with the help of a Missouri highway patrol
trooper who first noticed the fire. I suppose if that happened today it
would have prompted a major environmental crisis but as I recall the
trooper just helped me get it off the trailer and made no issue of
whatever was left after it burned. He probably got a chuckle out of it
and the skinny 21 year old preacher.
Brooksyne brought all her
childhood stuff from Tulsa in her ’73 bright orange Maverick. Then we began to accumulate. Over a year
later we moved to
Pennsylvania in a small U-Haul
truck and in 1993 we moved to Massachusetts in an even larger truck
with a
trailer. When we moved back to Pennsylvania in early 2001 it took
two trucks! (I think we are back down to one truck or at least I
hope
so!)
Abraham’s calling is an instructive portion of the Bible
and a great model for all of us in our journey of faith. When God called him he obeyed. They had a lot of animals and household
servants. But let us consider a simple phrase in the daily text, “all the possessions they had
accumulated.”
I wonder what in the world they had
accumulated? I suppose they had tents, cooking utensils, animal accessories, saddle blankets, bedding and other
household supplies
as well. I don’t know what kind of furniture they had. Based upon my
knowledge of the original Hebrew I am sure they didn’t have any
electronic equipment, computers, electric appliances or power tools!
It’s just hard to imagine that they had to deal with
anything like we do here in prosperous America, where a booming
business is self-storage units for all the stuff people
accumulate! In fact a new “disease” has been identified of
uncontrollable hoarding which now has a medical sounding name, “Hoarding disorder”. It has a relation to affluenza, a psychological malaise supposedly affecting wealthy people.
Accumulations are a part of life and we all have some. But
there’s a constant need to really remember what is important.
Jesus talked about accumulations when He said, “Do not store up for
yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where
thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not
break in and steal.” The apostle Paul made the universally
recognized observation that reminds us, “We brought nothing into the
world, and we can take nothing out of it.” Jesus said, “Watch
out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not
consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Amen!
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
