This week's Bible Study - January 24, 2010
Wrestling with Stuff
 Background Scripture:
Ecclesiastes 2:4-8; 5:10-16
Quote of the Week:
“What most people need to learn in life is how to love people and use things instead of using people and loving things.”
-- Source Unknown
In the past few lessons, we've talked about things that we all wrestle with. We've talked about views on life, time and injustice. These are things that we all deal with. This series of lessons continues with wrestling with stuff. Stuff can be defined as many things, but I think it is aptly named stuff, because your stuff and my stuff may not be the same, but they are both stuff. For some of you that read this, the continued use of the word 'stuff' will cause you too cringe (others will cringe more at the use of too rather than to!). Hopefully, you can get over that and realize that stuff is an appropriate word to use to encompass a lot of different things that we may think we need in life.
For some people, their stuff revolves around their house. It may be furniture, appliances, HD TVs, computers, interior decorations and other things that they set their heart on. Some people have their vehicles as their stuff - as they seek sports cars or other high priced vehicles. There are certainly some people that treat their cars much better than they treat other people. Others are into recreational vehicles and boats, so that they can always find an easy excuse to get away for the weekend or for a vacation. Some people's stuff is big, while other's stuff is little, but all of us deal with some sort of stuff.
I am not the type of person that is easily swayed by sales. Seldom do I go to a store or look at a circular and think that I have to have something. However, when it gets in my mind that I think that I 'need' something, I will spend a lot of time researching until I finally get it. That could be almost anything. The biggest 'stuff' draw in my life seems to be around technology. Being a bit of a geek, I work around others that have really cool phones and laptops and other equipment that part of me thinks that I really, really need.
I would even say that stuff can become relationships. It would seem that another lesson would cover this, but some people treat their relationships like 'stuff'. They keep trying to find another one or they put everything that they have into one. There is something that they are looking for, but it is based upon that thing, or that feeling that they have. It may not seem to be in the same realm of the other stuff, but it is something that they want to obtain to the point of it causes an inordinate amount of thought in their lives.
If you wanted to find someone that could afford stuff; in his day, it would have been Solomon. But, you can find this today as well. Several years ago, a popular TV program was Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. In that program, you would see humongous homes, lavish surroundings, expensive cars, boats and so on. Occasionally, a once rich person (such as a retired professional athlete) has to auction their stuff, because they spent all they had, without thinking about how to pay for things once their athletic gravy train ran out.
Solomon undertook great projects. He didn't plant a garden in his backyard, or add a room to the back of his house. Instead he built houses for himself and planted vineyards. There is a cost to do these things - not just the cause of construction, but also the cost of upkeep. Vineyards can't just be planted in the back field, with an expectation that fruitful vines would appear each year, unless there is the appropriate amount of work that is done to make them fruitful. In addition, Solomon made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees, along with reservoirs to water the groves of trees.
His possessions were not just material in nature. He bought male and female slaves and had slaves that were born in his house. He owned herds and flocks. He amassed gold and silver for himself, along with the treasure of kings and provinces. He acquired entertainment - men and women singers, as well as a harem. It would appear that if 'stuff' could make a person happy, Solomon would be the picture of happiness.
In chapter 5 of Ecclesiastes, Solomon begins to look back and summarize his misplaced love for stuff. In this passage, he is talking about money, which, if not the root of all evil, is at least the root of much stuff! He says that those who love money never have enough money and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This is so true. A lot of people look back at the 'good old days' and generally, in those days, they had little money or at least little responsibility. With more money comes more responsibility. Money is the one thing that many people would say that could solve most of their problems, if they only had more. Solomon's point is that the love of money is meaningless.
As a person amasses more, they have more problems. If you have more cars, you need bigger garages. If you have a boat, you need a place to store it. If you have an RV, you need to keep it someplace. In most places, it goes against subdivision restrictions to park all of these on your front lawn. The more that you have, the more you want. The more that you have, the more you have to lose. And, more often than not, thoughts revolve between how to make more and how to not lose what you already have.
Surely you've seen kids that had many toys, yet they could only play with one at a time. However, if a brother or sister starts to pick something up that had not been touched in months, that would be the thing that a kid 'has to' play with. How childish! Wait a second - that sort of describes many grown people. It isn't a problem of not having enough but holding on to what they have, lest somebody else may want to use it.
Solomon speaks of the sweet sleep of a laborer. This had to be inspired writing, because Solomon knew next to nothing of the life of a laborer. His point is very valid, though. Those who put their day's work in and can focus just on what they need to do will find it easier to sleep. On the other hand, the rich man has an abundance which limits him to have little, if any sleep.
In many cases, Solomon had seen wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner. We've likely seen this as well. As people hold on to what they have and amass more and more, they seem to withdraw from others more and more, as they are worried about how others may cause them to lose what they have. You've likely heard stories of rulers that became so worried about others taking their thrones that they killed potential rulers, including their own children. Most are not going to that extreme with their wealth, but you can easily imagine how that might happen.
Additionally there are others that hold on to their wealth, as a nest egg, to plan for something coming in the future. But, an illness or a severe economic downturn can easily change all of that. What seemed to be solid at one time becomes easily lost. You can talk to countless people that have recently retired as to how much their savings plummeted, leaving them in somewhat of a lurch. Plans for the future, based upon stored up wealth, can easily be squashed by so many things that occur in all of our lives.
Have you ever considered how many hours you spent working over the course of your lifetime? Some of you have worked a full career and are now retired. Some of you are just beginning careers. Others are in the midst of a career - spending the largest number of our waking hours at work. Work is a necessary part of life and we could spend some time looking at verses to tell us why that is useful. And, it does add something to life - all you need to do is talk to someone who doesn't have a job and wants one. They seem to understand that there is a sense of fulfillment in having a job.
We work and earn money and buy things all throughout life. You can afford a larger house or a nicer car or potentially several other things in life. However, when you came to this life, you came with nothing. All children are born into this world without anything. Sure, their conditions of growing up may differ from child to child, but they all start the same. And, when the end of life comes, we all go out pretty much the same way. The cause of death differs from person to person, but there is nothing that we get in this world that we can take with us. This passage tells us that a man comes naked from his mother's womb and he departs without things, as well. All of that labor in life doesn't really change anything. More people may show up at a person's funeral; the casket may be nicer; the burial place may differ and one may get a nicer blurb in the obituary, but other than that, we all go out the same.
Solomon wants us to realize that we spend a lot of time laboring, and toiling. There are benefits of doing this in life, but when it comes to the end, it matters little. All of those things we amass are left behind and often not appreciated by those they get left to.
Closing
One of the things I seem to keep running into with the book of Ecclesiastes is a sense of futility. Solomon had the means to do anything - and anything he did. His conclusion was always the same - meaningless. In the end, we know that life is about fearing God and doing what he has called us to do.
We realize that wealth and things cannot be the end-all in life, but we also know that we will all deal with this in life. The problem is not in stuff itself, but in how you view stuff. God isn't telling us to sell our possessions and go live under a bridge somewhere, but he wants us to keep our mind focused on what is really important. Truthfully, having wealth gives opportunities to do much. The problem isn't having wealth, but in how you use it. You may or may not be wealthy. You may or may not have a lot of stuff. But, how are you using what you have? Obviously, hoarding and keeping it all for your own benefit is not the answer.
As you go through life and make your purchases and occasionally buy nicer things, don't kick yourself. Just don't let yourself become consumed by stuff in this life. You will certainly get some enjoyment for a season (which is fine), but realize it has no eternal benefit and it shouldn't be the main focus of life. Put your focus on things that will matter once you have left this world. Focus on the lives that you can touch with what you have and not on keeping what you have from the lives of others around you.
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