God is our treasure, not stuff

"And a ruler asked him, 'Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your mother and father.' And he said, 'All these I have kept from my youth.' When Jesus heard this, he said to him, 'One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.' But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.' - Luke 18:18-23

These verses can be so convicting and so motivating at the same time. These verses sometimes make me want to sell all of my stuff, move into a small house or perhaps move to a different country and just live radical. I begin to think that if I don't, then I am not doing everything I can to obey Christ and follow hard after Him and being more like Him.

Is God not happy when we have stuff? What about flat screen TVs? What about nice houses? What about a brand new car? What about the latest gaming system? Does God not want us to have these things? Or are those questions being worded wrong? Perhaps the way we should word those questions is "Are we glorifying God and are we making it plain to those around us that our stuff, our TV, our nice home, our new car, our Playstation 3 is not our treasure and they are not where we find our security and contentment but in Christ alone are we content and satisfied?"

I think that is a much better question to ask ourselves. Everything we do should be for God's glory, so how are we using our stuff to glorify God? How are we using our stuff to make much of God so that those around us will realize that He is our lasting treasure and we hold our possessions so lightly, so loosely that if God calls us to sell our flat screen TV and give the money to someone in need, we do it without any questions asked or justifications made.

Paul says in Philippians 4:12 "I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need" and here is the key "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." I think that is the key to it all. Paul didn't say that he was content when he was poor and not content when he had "abundance". Paul's contentment was in Christ who gave Him strength. Christ is our constant when everything in this world is like shifting sands including how much money we have and how much stuff we have. We need to find our contentment and our treasure in Christ and Christ alone so that we "count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus (our) Lord" (Philippians 3:8).