Yesterday I preached a sermon based on James 3-4. The primary focus was James ‘blunt and almost abrasive call to practice a humble life and stop living in “animal cunning and devilish schemes”. James contends that we are spoiled children, wanting things was can’t have and operating out of our selfish desires to have more and more in our lives that we don’t need. In thinking about that, I did a lot of research about accumulating “stuff.” I learned that in 1960, the first ever self-storage facility was built in Texas. Today there are over 53,000 self-storage facilities, making it a $44.3 billion dollar industry. You read that right, friends. We spend $44.3 billion dollars per year to store all of our extra stuff. As I wade through my own closets full of stuff I don’t need or use, that really hit me hard.

Rev. John Strother, my former DS, posted this caution about gathering up too much stuff on his Facebook page last month. First, we will read Jesus’ parable in Luke 12 in the New International Version: 

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

Now let’s read it again from the Cotton Patch Bible. The Cotton Patch Bible is a modern translation written in a southern U.S. dialect:

Luke 12 The Cotton Patch Bible 

Then God said to him, “You NITWIT! On this very night all these things are possessing your soul. You don’t own them. They own YOU! And all this stuff you have piled up, whose is it really?…..So the poor rich farmer was struck with the realization that he would continue for the rest of his life in bondage to the things that had enslaved him all along….. “And that’s the way it is”, said Jesus, “with a man who sets his heart on money….and not on God.”

How much stuff do you really need? Like it said in the Cotton Patch Gospel, don’t be a nitwit! Maybe it’s time to let go of the stuff that has a hold over you.

Maybe we can start by clearing out our self-storage units and closets and giving all that stuff away. I bet there is a thrift store in your area that would be able to turn your unused stuff into money they can use for their ministry. In the Outer Banks, we have a young men’s addiction recovery program called Dare Challenge. They operate a thrift store that supports their important work, and they just opened a new women’s center. Think of what a difference your unused stuff could make to places like this!

Then we could take the money we spent on self-storage rental and donate it to good causes in our community like your local food pantries or homeless shelters. Luke’s parable reminds us that it is okay to settle for less.

May we covenant to seek God’s wisdom so that we might live well, live wisely, and live a humble life together. 

Humble Life by Kathy Schumacher