Father Forgive Me for I Have Packed

 

Many years ago my husband and his brother-in-law had a small construction company. They were carpenters but sometimes they would take a job to put on a new roof for someone because they needed the work. A couple of the men who worked for them had been brought up in the Catholic Church. Apparently roofing brings out the worst in a man and so they would come off the roof in the afternoon and jokingly (but also somewhat seriously) pray, “Father forgive me for I have roofed.”

Well, I am packing to move after 24 years in the same house and it is bringing out the worst in me. Words like greed, idolatry, selfishness, and covetous are going through my mind as I dig into closets and drawers and find things that I haven’t seen, thought about, or used in years – but I don’t want to give them up. I mean, what if it’s valuable and I give it away? What if my family knew I was throwing this out and it was valuable to them (even if they haven’t seen it, thought about it or used it either!)? Sometimes it’s just that I know someone else thinks it’s valuable and my conclusion is that it must be so for me.

What am I thinking? This is stuff. Generally speaking, it is unused and unnecessary stuff. It is sheer greed to have this desire to hold onto it. It is idolatry to think that I have to keep it because of its “value.” It’s selfish to move it so it can sit in a different drawer or closet so that no one else can have it to use. And, if I would rather keep something I’m not using than give it away – well, that seems covetous – I want something someone else SHOULD have!

Matthew 6:19 says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.”

My heart is truly devoted to the Lord Jesus but what I now see is that some little corner of it had not been completely cleaned out of the “stuff” that fills it. I cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit if any, even a small, portion of my heart is taken up with the love of stuff.

So, I have asked God to take the greed, the idolatry, the selfishness and the covetousness and to replace them with treasures from heaven. I am asking for a spirit of satisfaction with “enough” so that I will not desire to keep too much. I am asking for a spirit of generosity to give the rest away to overcome the greed and selfishness. I am asking for a spirit of complete, filled up to the top, devotion to my LORD so that I will value only Him.

So, that’s my confession about the hoarding of stuff in my house. Father forgive me for I have packed too much.

What things are you placing too high a value on? What are you keeping that someone else could use and that gets in the way of your worship of the One True God? Look at the value you have placed on stuff and evaluate your own heart on the issues of greed, idolatry, selfishness, and covetousness. Confess the sin you find, rid your life of the “extra”, and store up heavenly treasures in your heart for the glory of God and the good of others!

Anyone need a used 35 mm camera – or three?