possessions

[warren_piece]

should we sell our possessions?
does jesus call us to sell all of our possessions or is it okay to own stuff as long as it doesnt own us?
there does seem to be a few strands in jesus' teaching on the matter...but the main strand in luke certainly seems to point to selling our stuff.

[A#minor]

What "main strand" in Luke are you referring to?

If your possessions are more important to you than Christ, you might need to "cut off your arm to save your soul." In other words, get rid of whatever is holding you back from fully serving Christ. If that means getting rid of some junk around your house, moving into a smaller house, driving a less-fancy car, then so be it.

Matthew 5:29
"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."

Now obviously that verse doesn't mean that everyone's right eye is evil and must be plucked out. Nor is it necessary to sell all your possessions, because material things by themselves are not evil. It's the love of money, the love of things, that is the root of all evil; not money by itself.

You have to identify the weight of sin that holds you back. You have to discern within yourself if that right eye is really going to poison your whole body. Is that one thing you want becoming a sin because you put it before what Christ wants for you?

Think of Job and all the wealth he had, but when he lost it he still blessed the Lord. That's because he wanted to please God more than he wanted to please himself.

If tomorrow you lost everything you have just as Job did, could you still say "The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. ... Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." ? If you think you could still say that, then I don't think your possessions are a stumbling block to you.

[girlfreddy]

I agree with A#minor. I would also like to add that Jesus didn't tell everyone to sell his or her possessions, just the one guy. So, that would tell me that if Jesus (speaking through His Holy Spirit) would say to me, "Sell all and give to the poor", then that's what I would be committed in doing. But that doesn't mean that my next door neighbor should do the same thing.

IMHO, this screams of relational issues. Are we in a personal relationship (an over used term these days, but it describes what this is) with Jesus or with our possessions. George Carlin has a wonderful skit about this very thing; my stuff. is a link to a written copy of it. It is way too funny because it is so true.

[warren_piece]

[girlfreddy]

[Guest]

Here is an excellent article on a theology of abundance. It's called "Dangerous Blessings"


- Dan -

[Allison]