Happy with Less

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:19-24). Christ here commands complete detachment from earthly things. The word “single” is used as a “particle of union” (Strong’s and Thayer). One word study says concerning this word, that it is “used of the eye as not seeing double as when it is diseased” (Wordstudy Dictionary: E-Sword Edition). The single eye then is the eye which is wholly focused upon God without any part reserved for the world. It does not see in double-vision, trying to see holiness and debauchery at the same time. “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5, emphasis mine). Indeed, “ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24, emphasis mine). Anyone who attempts to live with this kind of double-vision finds what little light he may have turned into darkness, and “how great is that darkness!” (v.23).

I used to be the biggest “pack-rat” of my entire family. Soon before I turned twelve my family and I moved from downtown Statesville, NC to a more rural area in Hiddenite, NC just across from my grandparents. Prior to the move we had a yard-sale at our house in Statesville, at which, ironically enough, we sold the yard! We had tried to sell the house before and were unsuccessful but my mother was approached about selling the house during this very yard-sale and she accepted. While I gathered my stuff together to sell I remember my mother commenting on my McDonald’s toys that I had collected from all the Happy Meals I used to eat. I still had every single toy. I never threw anything away. Even now I was only selling them reluctantly, but the idea of selling stuff to get more money to buy newer and better stuff to take up the space of my recently sold STUFF was too irresistible.

All of that began to change for me at the end of the summer of 2004. I had spent six weeks of my summer studying theatre on a college campus in Raleigh, NC and the dorm there contained only a twin bed, a small desk, and an even smaller bookshelf. All I brought to the dorm was my Bible, clothes, bed set, 2 recently purchased DVD’s, and my Crystal Stix (a geeky little juggling toy that I loved then and love even now thank you very much). To my memory I never watched a single DVD. I spent nearly all of my time out in the Quad, which is what we called the courtyard, socializing with the other students. When I returned home I was disgusted with myself. I stepped into my bedroom and my first thought was, “What is all of this stuff!?” I immediately threw away 3 trash bags of junk. My rule was this: if I found it and had forgotten that it even existed, or if I knew that I would never use it, I threw it away. Not only that, but I may be the only child in human history to ask for a smaller bed. At that time I had a queen sized bed, but I had very much come to enjoy the twin-bed that I slept on during the summer and this bed now seemed to me to be way to big. My mother granted my request. From that day onward I have been in the slow process of getting rid of my “stuff.”

Just prior to this trip to Brazil I had gone through another grand “purge” and was left with less stuff than I had ever owned before. But I was about to live with even less. I had determined that I would only take one checked bag and one carry on to Brazil. I limited myself to my Bible, 5 books (although I ended up bringing 6), my journal, enough clothes for ten days, my iPod, and my laptop. As I looked at my suitcase and backpack I thought to myself, “This is my life for the next two months. And it all fits in two bags.” It was a very frightening experience, as well as a very exciting one. But here is the best part: I have been just as happy (dare I say happier?) here, with my two-bag life, as I ever was in the States with my dresser full of clothes and closet full of junk. I actually brought two t-shirts that have yet to be worn! And for whatever reason, that is a good feeling.

One of the greatest victories that the devil ever wins takes place when he makes us believe that we need anything besides God. That is how this whole mess got started. The devil convinced Eve that she needed the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in order to be the best that she could be, in order to be truly wise. Too often we look at our stuff and think "What if?" And I have been just as guilty as anyone. We think, "What if I need this someday? I certainly can't get rid of this!" Friends, James says that all we need is food and clothing (cf. James 2:15, 16), and God has promised to provide both of those for His children (cf. Matthew 6:25-34). All of this taken together teaches us that God is what we need, not stuff. When I hold on to stuff because I think, "I may need this someday," I am depending upon myself, my things, and my own efforts to provide for me, and that way of living requires very little faith, if any at all. This does not mean that it is wrong to own things, or even a lot of things. Abraham and Job were both rich and faithful at the same time. What it does mean is that possession can be a temptation and a stumbling block (cf. 1 Timothy 6:9). It means that I do not need those things. It means that there is no room in my heart, in my spiritual "eye," for anything but light. It means that there is no room for anything but God. "Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness" (Luke 11:35). "You cannot serve God and money" (Matthew 6:24, ESV).