We gots too much stuff....

I take a break from my cleaning to ask this question: WHEN DID WE GET SO EXCESSIVE??
We are going through our house to find things to sell to lighten our load as we plan to move out of the country. It is really maddening to see all of the stuff that is just stuff, serves no purpose, I don't even like, I wasted our money on, and just weighs us down. Take, for example, candles. I can see 11 candles from where I am sitting at this desk. I do not burn them. They collect dust (and dusting candles is not an easy task). At Pottery Barn a 3x6 pillar candle is $8. 8x11=88 Go here www.bloodwatermission.com (link to the right) and you can see that $88 can buy 88 Africans clean water for a YEAR! Wow, I really needed to buy those candles, huh? Not only that, but they totally clutter the house. I crave SIMPLICITY!!! So don't buy me candles.

Shoes: Do I really need a closet FULL of shoes when I wear 3 or 4 of them?
Perfume: Do I really need 5 bottles when it gives me a headache so I don't wear it?
Books: (this one hurts) Do I really need a library full of books when I probably won't reread half of them?
The list goes on and on and on and on.

It disgusts me. I want to fit all of my possessions in a backpack. I really do not think we can achieve the call of God when we are constantly buying and storing up things we do not need. It is not okay. Jesus says so:
Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. -Luke 12:33-34

You really can't argue that. Stop buying things thinking they will make your life happier or easier. It is not okay to be excessive. Your wealth is not "a blessing from the Lord." It is, but not so you can horde it and spend it on crap. Did you ever think that maybe He blessed you with it so you can bless others? Give till it hurts. You don't need it. I am speaking to myself here too.

Why would you want to work your whole life, day after day, to earn money just so you can buy things you don't need. Where is the sense in that cycle?