Currently Reading Let the Nations Be Glad!: The Supremacy of God in Missions By John Piper see related

It's all well and good to talk about decluttering. It's pretty easy to say, "I loaded up a bunch of boxes and took them over to Empty Tomb and boy do I feel great."  Rationally I can admit that my belongings are just things, and that I shouldn't store up treasures on earth, and so on, and so forth. In reality, however, this "getting rid of things" is hard. There should not be a little hole in my heart where a bright yellow spice rack from my former days used to be, but so help me God, there is one. I've talked to other people about this sort of thing, and tears have sprung into eyes (and not only mine) at the mere thought of parting from various items. So, if you are contemplating decluttering and finding it emotionally difficult, I'm right there with you.

I found some unexpected encouragement from John Piper in "Let the Nations Be Glad!", subtitled "The Supremacy of God in Missons".  Piper says, "Even though it is true that we should thankfully enjoy what we have, there is a relentless call in the Bible not to accumulate more and more things, but to give more and more, and to be deprived of things if love demands it. There are no easy rules to tell us whether the call on our lives is the call of the rich young ruler to give away all that we have, or the call of Zacchaeus to give away half of what we have." I had read the story of the rich young man who was told to give away all that he had. I could see the importance of the utter rejection of wealth in his life that was so strongly predicated on worldly goods. I very much admire those who follow this path, but the command to give everything away is clearly not applicable to everyone. The rich young ruler I am not, but the verse in Amos about selling the poor for a pair of sandals cuts deep - and I can identify with Zacchaeus. Piper continues, "What is clear from the New Testament is that, while we live on earth, suffering with joy, not gratitude in wealth, is the way the worth of Jesus shines most brightly."  

I like that. I like it that Piper divides all Christians into only two camps - those called to own nothing, and those called to own half of what the world entitles them to own. It's easy to think in halves. How about owning half as many things as we do now? I could easily do with only half the number of some things I own, like comforters or flower pots or silverware sets or easter baskets or...you get the picture. That has the added advantage of allowing us to fit better in our house so that we won't need to buy a bigger house just to keep all our stuff in, which people do all the time. How about taking half as many showers to conserve water and money? Or spending half as much at the grocery store - well, I don't know about that (yikes!) but at least it's a recognizable goal to aim for. And in the future, I can aim at passing by half the opportunities I have to acquire more stuff. It's kind of cool to think that if I cut my consumption of some things in half, two families could begin to live on what formerly provided for one. 

More from Piper:

"You cannot show the preciousness of a person by being happy with his gifts. Ingratitude will certainly prove that the giver is not loved. But gratitude for gifts does not prove that the giver is precious. What proves that the giver is precious is the glad readiness to leave all his gifts to be with him. This is why suffering is so central in the mission of the church. The goal of our mission is that people from all nations worship the true God. But worship means cherishing the preciousness of God above all else, including life itself. It will be very hard to bring the nations to love God from a lifestyle that communicates a love of things. Therefore God ordains in the lives of his messengers that suffering sever our bondage to the world. When joy and love survive this severing, we are fit to say to the nations with authenticity and power: Hope in God."