Less Is More
By Lisa Ward
Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and
where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot
destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of
your heart will also be.
~Matthew 6:19-22 NLT
It started about a year ago, purging, that is. We just had too much stuff! I have always been a saver. “Waste not, want not.” Have you heard that saying before? I lived by it! I never liked throwing anything away. Putting it in a landfill didn’t seem right. Someone could use this. We spent money on it. What if we needed it in the future? I had every excuse why I needed to keep something. I can fix it up, I can sell it, and I can give it away. And I did fix, sell, and give away a lot of things, but we had more stuff than we could manage, more than we needed or would ever need. Craft supplies, office supplies, dishes, tools, clothes, furniture, home decor...you name it, we probably had it. Hoarder is a word we would use a lot but our home didn’t look like the ones on that TV show. It was clean and organized (for the most part) but it was becoming a burden.
Hoarding riches harms the saver.
~Ecclesiastes 5:13b NLT
We watched Gabe Bult on YouTube and read “The Minimalist Home” by Joshua Becker. It sparked something in us. We had enough. We said no more!
Better to have little, with fear for the Lord, than to have great treasure and inner turmoil.
~Proverbs 15:16 NLT
No more feeling guilty. No more estimating what we spent on these things or who they once belonged to. We started giving more things away, throwing more things away, refusing to accept things from a well-intentioned family who thought we could “use it.”
Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”
~Luke 12:15 NLT
We had boxes of paperwork and trinkets from parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. I thought, who am I to get rid of this? Some of it was older than us! It’s history, it’s memories, It’s our family story. But are these items really going to bring them back or turn back time? Of course not. Our memories of them won’t be forgotten just because we no longer have these things.
Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.
~Colossians 3:2 NLT)
We had decorations we didn’t like anymore (but they were still good) and clothes that didn’t fit. So are we going to leave them to our kids so they could be burdened?
Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through your word.
~Psalm 119:37 NLT)
We went through box by box, drawer by drawer, room by room, and got rid of so much stuff! This feeling of being free from stuff outweighed the guilt of getting rid of the items. After the floods in North Carolina and now the fires in California, we are even more aggressive with letting go. We could lose all of our earthly possessions in an instant. Our time and energy can be better spent helping each other and enjoying each other’s company, not being held prisoner by so much stuff.
Remember to do good and share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.
~Hebrews 13:16 NLT
We are not getting rid of everything, but we are prioritizing the real value of each item and asking ourselves “Is holding onto this item hindering our relationship with God, with each other? Is it adding value to our lives, real value?”
Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.
~Luke 12:21 NLT
It’s been an emotional journey. We still have a long way to go, but it is absolutely worth it!
