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Lay not: Don’t store up.
Greek: lay-up [3], in store [1], layup treasure [1], treasure up [1], keep in store [1], heap treasure together [1]. to amass or reserve (literal or figurative): - lay up (treasure), (keep) in store, (heap) treasure (together, up). Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary. "to lay up, store up" (akin to thēsauros, "a treasury, a storehouse, a treasure"), is used of "laying" up treasures, on earth, Matt. 6:19; in Heaven, Matt. 6:20; in the last days, Jas. 5:3, RV, "ye have laid up your treasure" (AV, "ye have heaped treasure together"); in Luke 12:21, "that layeth up treasure (for himself);" in 1 Cor. 16:2, of money for needy ones (here the present participle is translated "in store," lit. "treasuring" or "storing," the "laying by" translating the preceding verb tithēmi, Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words.
Often, we find ourselves with two of these or four of those or more clothes than we could ever wear. Maybe it’s a lamp or piece of furniture or a car that sits around without the need of someone driving it on a regular basis.
I have a friend who lives in another city and the lady that he is dating has so much ‘stuff’ stored in her house that all the space that is left is a few isle ways to walk around to the rest of the house.
I know that this is a bit extreme and there is definitely something wrong with that lady’s approach to life [I will leave that to the Lord]. But truly there are so many of us that accumulate material things to the point of being ridiculous. I am not quite sure what our point is, but somewhere along the walk of life we feel we can use those things again, yet we continue to accumulate
We are developing a condo project in our city, and it is musing to say the least at the amount of ‘junk’ that people have collected over the years and the strong will in man to keep all that ‘stuff’. Repeatedly the same story keeps coming back to me, “I don’t know what we are going to do with all of our things”, but they know they cannot move it to the new unit for the size of it is simply not large enough to accommodate the ‘junk’
So, this is my point. Start giving the ‘stuff’ away. BE A GIVER AND NOT A HOARDER. There are needy families who could use it now, not sometime in the future. If you wait, moth and rust will destroy it and it will be lost to anyone’s use and oh what a burden it places on the family. It often takes months to clear out an estate and most of the things are utterly worthless to the family. The children are grown and are making it work on their own and certainly don’t need the collection.
Do yourself and God a favor and get it into the hands of those that need it now. Go through your closets, basements, garages, attics and storage sheds and CLEAN it out. You will be glad you did and God will be pleased.
Matthew 6:31-34 (MSG) “What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”
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