My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. Proverbs 3:21-22
How much is enough? To be very candid with you, that is a question I have struggled with personally for several years. Oh, it isn’t that I have so much or think that I need so much that I have drawn a line and said to myself, “When I get there, I’ll give the rest away.” The issue with me involves a lifestyle. It’s part of the fabric of my faith forced by my coming to grips with some of the needs of the rest of the world.
I know some who have faced the issue of simplicity and they have given away virtually most of everything they possessed. They had become convinced that material goods had possessed them. I’m thinking of a young woman who came from a wealthy family who was converted and then actually took her silver service and put it in the trash because she was convinced it was wrong for her to have so much when others had so little. She was afraid that if she gave the silver to someone who was poor, they would begin to worship it just as she had.
Well, that may not be your conviction, but have you ever pondered the issue of how much is enough? Ron Sider, a Ph.D. in history from Yale, came to grips with that question and his long search ended in his writing a thought‑provoking and controversial book, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. Guy Davidson and his church were confronted with the issue, and instead of building a new church building, they actually gave their entire building fund to an organization that feeds the hungry, and the postscript to that act of charity is eventually they got their building anyway.
I confess I am personally troubled with magnificent and very costly church buildings which are used for three hours on a Sunday morning and then sit empty for most of the rest of the week, while struggling Asian congregations pray for a corrugated metal roof to keep the rain out during a typhoon. Yes, I know that some people will give pipe organs to their church or pay for stained glass windows who would never give to provide the roof over a cinder block church halfway around the world.
Forgive me, but I find it difficult to generate much compassion for people whose major problems are: “Where do I park that third car, boat, or camper?” when 50% of the world’s population goes to bed hungry almost every night.
Frankly, I could get more response if I told you how to increase your net worth, or how to overcome the problem of burn‑out, or cut your taxes, but perhaps this in itself sends a message to the heart: something is fundamentally wrong with a society that measures the quality of life by how much we have but ignores what we are.
No, I won’t suggest five guidelines that will free you from the curse of clutter, but I am challenging you to take a look at your life and then answer that question, “How much is enough?” I’m fully confident that as you ponder the answer and you actually go to the Word, the Holy Spirit will direct you as He has thousands of others. In the process, I’d encourage you to read Sider’s book, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. Or, find Richard Foster’s book, Freedom of Simplicity, and give it a fair hearing. Yes, you still may buy that second car or computer, but if you do so, it will be because you need it, not simply to justify your selfish desire to have more than your neighbor. And in so doing you will possess them instead of their possessing you. Think about it. Remember, Jesus said, “[A man’s] life does not consist in the abundance of the things [or the possessions which] he [has]” (Luke 12:15 NKJV).
That question of, “How much is enough?” is one that every person needs to answer for himself.
Resource Reading: Proverbs 4:20-27
