Stuff Love (Empty Love)

One of the most immediately recognizable things about our society is our love for stuff.  We have stores where you can buy stuff; TV shows for selling, making, and reviewing stuff; an entire transportation industry revolving around moving stuff.  We build houses with attics, basements, and massive garages and fill them with stuff, so we have to rent storage space for even more stuff.  We depend on the assistance of regularly scheduled crews of men to remove our wasted stuff and have yard/garage sales to profit from our unwanted stuff.  We love our stuff.

Stuff is most easily identifiable as acquired physical possessions; but really it goes beyond even that.  Stuff is generally what we are interacting with to fill our schedules.  It could be physical possessions like a nice house, sweet vehicle, or highly valued thingamajig; but it may very well be something not quite so tangible like a relational attachment, job, or hobby.

Is all stuff bad?  No.  Is all stuff good?  No.  How do I know the difference?  It all boils down to priorities.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. – 1 John 2:15-17

If you are too busy salivating over your new shiny toy, making sure your kitchen counter tops glow from Pinesol overload, or lost in the thralls of sports-delirium to recognize, and engage, in the meaningful things of life … then you have a stuff problem.