I recall once seeing a bumper sticker which read, “The one who dies with the most toys wins.”
I didn’t know if the person driving the car ascribed to that philosophy or if it was intended as a satirical commentary, but the sticker spoke to a sad reality. Many of us have, to a degree, made an idol out of money and material possessions, but Jesus tells us plainly: “life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” (Luke 12:16).
The Bible shows that life’s true value is found, rather, in the reality that Jesus reveals — it is the reality of the kingdom of God. It is God’s spiritual reality in which there is no clinging to “stuff,” where God’s forgiveness and promise is found. The values of this kingdom contrast sharply against those of a world which upholds greed and perpetuates fear, a world that keeps telling us accumulation and clinging to wealth ought to be our top priority, that our minds ought to be fixated on worrying about the future, that we do not have enough, or we are on the verge of losing what we have, that sharing is a dangerous thing.
With those anxiety-based messages coming at us, it is easy to forget Christ’s promise. That’s serious forgetting, but it is easy to do (yes, even for pastors). This is why we need to hear the gospel, the good news, afresh and be reminded of the incredible thing that God has done for us through Jesus.
