Being Rich is What Matters to God

July 31, 2016

It is amazing what clutter can add up to.  It is amazing how we can fill storage units, basements and garages with things and still seek new treasures that can offer us a fleeting moment of joy.  In the Ouper Family, my parents were collectors.  That trait has been passed on to all of us to some degree or another.  It is an invitation to ask ourselves, “Do our possessions possess us?”  How do we shift our focus to what matters to God when we have so many things that capture our attention.  Recently when cleaning out our parents’ house, we were inundated with stuff.  Stuff of our childhood; report cards of our grade school days, letters we wrote to our parents at different stages of our lives.  They kept a lot, and much of it brought back smiles and memories amidst all that is good.  But how much is too much?  How much is redundant and repetitive.  Going through all of this, I am still amazed at the clutter I own.  While I promise to get better, I still miss the point.  How do we store up things that matter to God?  How do we possess the things that lead us to eternal life?  I won’t find them in the basement; I won’t find them in tubs of storage.  What matters is the moment of connection, the presence of God found in the Sacraments, the outpouring of God’s mercy to a sinner reaching for reconciliation.  The things that cannot be boxed up, handed over and wrapped are the things that matter to God.  Impact happens when we realize the real true holiness comes when God’s power moves into the world.  It happens when parents connect and together see the goodness of God in their child.  It happens when a sibling asks for forgiveness from the one they hurt.  It happens when we realize we were in the right place at the right time to be there for somebody we didn’t even know.   Being rich in the Kingdom of God is clothing the naked, visiting those imprisoned, feeding the hungry and sharing belief in others.  Growing rich is standing firm on the principles laid out in the Bible.

Making a difference in the life of another in the name of God leads us to what really matters.  Paul says there are three things that remain: faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love.

Possess these and allow them to possess your life.

Rev. John J. Ouper