This week I went to Houston to help my brother move our mom closer to him, because when we were living back in Houston she lived halfway between my brother and I, but since our move to Weslaco it just made sense to have her closer to him. As we loaded all her belongings and furniture a thought came to me, our houses in a way represent our lives, we fill our homes with many things, some good and valuable that we cherish because of the memories we have made thru them, and some just take space and we don’t really need them, and in a way, we would be better off without those things that just clutter our lives.
All of this made me think of the word in Hebrews 13:5 “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, I will never leave you or forsake you.” Many times we fill our lives with things, and we doit just to fill the space, and we tend to do the same in our homes and we buy in to the idea that we need stuff to be happy, just because we can does not mean we should and because we do this we lose our focus in God, because then our mission becomes one to fill our space with whatever we can find. Because our society has programed us to be consumers, but this word in Hebrews is a reminder for us to be content with what we have, to be happy with what God has given us, to not fill our space with useless things but for us to fill it with things of worth, with things that will help our spiritual lives.
This rememinds me when Sophia and I bought our first home, I remember telling myself, I cannot imagine ever filling this house. Because at the time we moved in all we owned was our bedroom furniture and our living room set, and because the house was so big for the both of us it seemed impossible that we will ever fill that house with things, and by the time we moved I had to rent a dumpster just to throw away many of those things that we had collected thru the years, and were just taking space and as we were packing we realize that we did not need them moving forward, and what seemed impossible at first all of sudden was accomplished we had a house full of stuff. Maybe we need to rent a metaphorical dumpster to throw away those things in our lives that we have collected and are just taking space in it, and for us to be content with what God has provided for us, may it be our physical or spiritual life, and for us to always remember that he is with us always.
My prayer this week is that God may show us what are those things that need to go into the dumpster that are just filling our lives and we don’t need, and for us to be able to come to a point to be content with what God has given us, may God bless you.
Pastor Luis.