By Danny Minton

This week I am going through all the books I have in the house to make room for another piece of furniture. It was an old dresser at a cheap price. When my wife was through refinishing it, it turned out to be a beautiful piece of cherrywood. We are always looking for deals, and probably over 75 percent of all our household items belonged to someone else at one time or another.

So, to make room, we had to move things around, which meant deciding where to put all my books. I’m guessing I have over a thousand total, with a few hundred inside and the rest boxed up. I collect old children’s books and old western books (I picked up five Roy Rogers novels this past week), and I have scores of true-story books from WWII and sports. In addition, I still own a few hundred books I use for Bible study, including around 50 Bibles. Now, I do sell the higher-value ones. Most of my books I’ll keep for now; however, a group of books is being donated to next year’s library book sale. 

There are other collections, most of which started when we went to garage or estate sales. We’d buy something here or there, and before we knew it, it had become a collection. We’ve had church groups over for Christmas for the past 20 years and have amassed a collection of hundreds of Christmas items, including around 12 Christmas trees. We’ve given a few away and will cut it down a few this year, but it still takes up half the garage. The other half has my tools and fixer-up stuff. Also, my seventy-five wrapped Monopoly games. I’m one of those people who, before I throw something away, often tell myself, “I might need that someday!”

Among all this, we also keep memories. There are a few boxes of things from our two boys’ younger days. I sent our youngest his Star Wars collection a few years ago and have his ET trading cards. We have the Wizard of Oz Collection (to which we added) that was decorating our eldest son’s room. We kept his Toy Story items boxed away. Then there’s my USS North Carolina and dad’s Navy collection, things I’ve kept that were part of my Plano Wildcat football days, including two jackets that have shrunk, letters written by students when I was injured, and a glass case holding the 1965 state championship ball the team gave me when I was in the hospital. 

Of course, most of this is just stuff. Most, except for the memories, will one day be sold or given away. They are just things, some of which we use, but much of which sits around collecting dust. We’ve accumulated a lot over 58 years of marriage and almost 40 years in the same house. 

Jesus warned us, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;  for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”  Matthew 6:19-21 (NASB77) When he said this, he wasn’t saying we couldn’t have things. He was telling us that worldly items should not mean more to us than the life we live in loving God and each other. Family, friends, and, especially, a life glorifying God are what are most important. When things mean more to us than God, we are putting our priorities in the wrong place. 

There was a very wealthy man who recently passed away who made a comment that has stuck in my mind for years. In the 1990s, he called Christianity “a religion for losers.” He later said something to the effect, “I don’t need God; I can buy anything I need.” I heard that, as he got older, his opinion of Christianity softened, and he even started praying for people. Somewhere along the line, he must have realized that life is more than the things of this world. 

I don’t know how long I’ll hold on to the things around me. However, I do know that as I sell or get rid of my stuff, I will still hold on to the faith and love of Christ. I will still love family and friends. I will still seek opportunities to serve God in one way or another. There’s nothing more valuable in life.

Danny Minton, a member of Southern Hills Church of Christ, is a hospital chaplain