By Corey
I have been wrestling with the idea of material possessions for quite a while now. In Mathew 19 Jesus interacts with a young rich man that is looking to find eternal life. Jesus tells the young man that to attain eternal life he needs to “keep the commandments”. The young man then tells Jesus that he already does this but he feels that he is still missing something. As a result Jesus states, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven” (Matthew 19:21 ESV).
This passage is so challenging to me. I am a college student without much money or a car, but I have so much stuff. I am a collector and a bit of a pack rat. For examp
le, I have a large collection of shoes, socks, bikes, hats, jeans, and wool ties. And these are just my “collections”, the things that I buy more of simply for the sake of having them.
So what am I supposed to do in light of this passage? I see two options. First, I could adopt the American mentality; I could choose to ignore this pa ssage and believe that it doesn’t apply to me because of America’s obsession with material possessions. This approach is easy, safe, and attempts to justify consumerism. Or secondly, I could look at this passage from a much different point of view, a literal one. Réne Padilla in his book, Mission Between the Times states, “If it is clear that Jesus did at times demand literal poverty as a condition of discipleship, why should we take it for granted that in our case his demand to renounce all possessions should be interpreted figuratively?”
This is the heart of my struggle. Can a compromise be made or is it simply one way or the other? And further, if I am actually bowing my knee to Christ each day, do my material possessions need justification? Thoughts?
