Speaker: Bonnie Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living

Watch out!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.  Luke 12:15

How much stuff is enough?  Have you ever pondered the question in relation to your own lifestyle?  “It is not the rich man only who is under the dominion of things,” wrote George MacDonald, the man who greatly influenced C. S. Lewis. “They too,” he contended, “are slaves who having no money are unhappy from it.”

“How much do you really need to be satisfied?”  Has the media convinced us, on a retina display screen, that to be satisfied we must have far more than we actually need?  And, of course, we think we could be really happy with just that one more thing.

One of the most challenging books I’ve read is Richard Foster’s Freedom of Simplicity.  In this thought‑provoking confrontation with the desire for “things,” Foster begins the first chapter by saying, “Contemporary culture is plagued by the passion to possess.  The unreasoned boast abounds that the good life is found in accumulation‑‑that ‘more is better.’  Indeed, we often accept this notion without question, with the result that the lust for affluence has become psychotic:  it has completely lost touch with reality.”

In response to what Foster described over two decades ago, a trend called “minimalism” has intrigued many. Craving meaning over material, 20 million people have resonated with The Minimalists.  That is the title of the book and blog of Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus.   “Minimalism,” say Millburn and Nicodemus, “is a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important—so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom. In the minimalist quest for meaning, some have tried experiments where they attempt to live with only 100 total possessions.

Perhaps the minimalists are actually discovering the truth in the words of Jesus Christ: “Watch out!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15).

Many have learned that it takes far less than we think to be happy when we discover that meaning comes from within, and we break the strangle‑hold that things have on our lives today.  After the explorer, Admiral Byrd, lived in the Arctic all by himself for months, he wrote these words in his journal: “I am learning…that a man can live profoundly without masses of things.”

A man named Alexander Solzhenitsyn discovered the same thing.  In one of his books he tells about being thrown into a Soviet prison and, systematically, everything he held dear to his heart was taken from him‑‑his books, his home, his friends, and his freedom‑‑almost everything but his very life.  Then, Solzhenitsyn said, that a man is never stronger than when he has nothing but the treasures which are within his heart.

Both Mark and Luke tell about a young man who struggled with this issue of how much is enough.  One day he came to Jesus Christ and asked, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus immediately stripped away any misconceptions about adding “faith” as an ornament to his already opulent life as He said, “Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me” (Luke 18:22). Hardly what he expected.

So then, was Jesus against money? No!  He was against anything that becomes god and leaves our Heavenly Father on the side.  Against anything that holds our hearts more than He does.  How much is enough?  G.K. Chesterton answered the question by saying, “There are two ways to get enough:  One is to continue to accumulate more and more.  The other is to desire less and less.”  It’s something to think about.

Resource Reading: Luke 18

By Bonnie Sala