The Hoarder
I saw a program from “The Hoarders” and in this episode, the old lady in question lived in a huge palatial Executive Residence in a very up-market suburb, and it was an eyesore due to the clutter which grew up from the floor, all the way up to about your arm pits. Because of her problems, she got into debt, then the house got sold out from under her, and then the new owners gave her some time to move out, but she felt that she was going to remain there with her stuff permanently, so she did nothing about preparation to leave.
Multiple Eviction notices were all ignored, they will just go away she thought, well that was until the crew of about 40 workers and about six huge 40 foot dumpsters arrived, and still she dug in and wanted to keep every scrap of paper, an ordinary rock, a broken box of sand, broken lights, when all around her were paintings, portraits, antique furniture, she was scratching in the dirt as it were.
The crew chief then brought in an Auctioning House and they went through and dug through the stuff and found the items of value and sold them off and got her a nice wee bundle of cash for her future. As the final deadline loomed, she was still digging in even harder, and then she realized that she had to get her stuff outside the boundary of the house, so she worked during the night to pile up all her stuff out on the street, and she felt that she had finally won.
Well that was until the Council arrived with a big truck with a hydraulic clam shell and told her that as she was in violation of City Rules, and this was all going to be hauled away to the dump, she somehow got a short reprieve, but she still kept junking the street by hauling useless stuff out into the street. Finally the crew evicting her got her to load a couple of Ute’s with some of the street stuff and sent her off to store it somewhere else, and then crunch time came and the clamshell grabbed all this lovely stuff, dumped it into its bin tray and mashed it down, the house was cleared of trash, the street cleared of trash, and looking much better.
So finally a 10,000 square foot mansion was cleared, and that is equivalent to about 8 normal 3-bedroom homes. This was no little “sweep it under the carpet” as it was a major undertaking for about 50 workers over a few days. So what is the relevance to us in our tidy homes you may well ask? Well please consider this verse in Isaiah 55:2 “Wherefore do ye spend money for [that which is] not bread? And your labour for [that which] satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye [that which is] good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.”
How many of us put Major efforts in Minor things, by Majoring in Minors” and when it is all done and dusted, we had been focusing on things of no import. It would be so sad, that at the “End of the World” and Jesus Christ is sitting on his throne, and it is time to go Home, he would still find us, still scratching around in the dirt, for broken scraps, that by neglect, our Characters we were totally unfitted for Heaven, as we had put all our efforts into everything earthly but nothing into our “Eternal Salvation,” sort of like those who failed to enter Noah’s Ark.
We have the Parable in Luke 14 about a feast and the guests were not coming as one had just purchased some land, another had bought some Tractors (in today’s language,) and another was newly married. All pathetic excuses and it just proved that they were very bad planners and did not prioritise well, as this was the Monarch requesting, and the invitation had been sent out a long time beforehand, and they were all showing him their disrespect as their tiny world was way more important than his and they were just Too Busy.
This Parable has a Spiritual side, in which it points to the “End of the World” and the Coming of Jesus, it is all over, and here are people scurrying around with “the cares of this life” and have missed their “Eternal Life” and any of us can so easily get our eyes off the real reason for our lives, and let the cares of this life squeeze us into its mould, and we become earthly and not Heavenly, with no heavenly character, we are unfitted for the purity of eternity, how so very sad.
We have these verses; Micah 6:8 “He hath showed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” Or Matthew 10:10-11 “Nor scrip for [your] journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat. And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence.” And 2 Timothy 4:13 “The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring [with thee], and the books, [but] especially the parchments.”
Dear Reader; while we have still got a small amount of time left, let us treasure each moment and get our Eternal Life sorted firstly, and our earthly life lived in harmony with Heaven, and cease to focus on “Things” and “Majoring in Minors.” Relationships is what it is all about, as all that is in this world is going to be burned up, so let us live orderly and tidily and not get bogged down with belongings. Titus 2:12 “Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;”
