Spiritual Decluttering

We have a lot of stuff!

That’s true for a lot of people around the world, but it’s especially true for most of us in America!

If that isn’t immediately obvious to you, consider these statistics:

More than 11 percent of U.S. households rent space in one of the 52,000 self-storage facilities available as of April 2024.

The number of facilities has been growing since the late 1960s, despite the fact that houses have been getting bigger. The “tiny house” trend notwithstanding, in 2021 the size of the average new house in the U.S. was 2,532 square feet. That’s dramatically bigger than the new house size in 1970 (1,500 square feet) or 1950 (983 square feet).

Families have not gotten larger. But our lifestyles demand larger homes. And did I mention that we have a lot of stuff?

The size of closets is another indicator. The master bedroom closet in the first home my husband and I purchased in 1986 (a tract home built in the 1940s) was about 5 feet wide. We’ve often joked that the walk-in closet we use today rivals the size of one of the bedrooms in our starter house!

Clutter and the burden of all our stuff

It probably doesn’t surprise anyone that it can be challenging to own so much stuff. We might call it clutter.

Did you know that people have used the noun clutter—as in “things lying in heaps or crowded confusion”—since the 1570s? (That’s according to the Online Etymology Dictionary.)

That’s even before the King James Version of the Bible, which was published in 1611. However, the word clutter can’t be found in that version or any other of the common versions available today. But that doesn’t mean that the Bible has nothing to say about the problem. The Bible does address the problem of clutter—where possessions overwhelm us and keep us from being able to focus on the things that truly matter.

It also addresses the solution to clutter—that is, decluttering—the process of making room for the things that truly matter.

Dealing with clutter

A couple centuries ago—and even more recently in certain parts of the world—the common person had just two sets of clothing.

There was no need for a closet, let alone organizing the apparel in the closet!

Today organizing just our clothes closets can be a lot of work—to say nothing of bringing order to the garage, kitchen, linen closet, children’s toys, etc. And sometimes organization isn’t enough!

To keep our focus on our future as children of God in His eternal Kingdom, we also need to make sure our abundance isn’t distracting us from what is truly valuable. Sometimes our possessions are clutter. To avoid getting buried under all our stuff, we have to declutter, or purge our excess. We scour the Internet for strategies and tricks to help us determine what to get rid of. But it’s a chore nonetheless.  

We sometimes hire professionals to help us! In a sad and telling irony, we pay to get rid of what we bought. Not only does our stuff fail to add value to our lives, it actually detracts.

Sometimes it practically enslaves us. It’s not helping us and it’s even hurting us, and yet we’re so attached to all our stuff that we can’t let go! When it becomes hoarding, it can be a very serious problem.

How did we get so much stuff?

Americans have become huge consumers. Especially over the last century, consumerism has been promoted as being important for the economy, creating jobs and encouraging innovation and better products.

Retail analyst Victor Lebow laid bare the motives of manufacturers and advertisers alike in a 1955 article in the Journal of Retailing:

“Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption . . . We need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating pace.”

But the desire to have things isn’t truly new.

The deeper root

Even in ancient times people liked money—and the things money can buy. King Solomon, who was himself probably the wealthiest man on earth, observed that “he who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase . . . But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep” (Ecclesiastes 5:10, 12).

God inspired the apostle Paul to point to “the love of money” as “a root of all kinds of evil” and to greed as a cause of “many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:10).

Jesus warned His followers, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15).

The parable of the rich fool

Christ spoke those words as an introduction to one of His many stories. This parable—often called “the parable of the rich fool”—tells about a wealthy farmer who had such productive fields that he didn’t have room enough to store it all!

The wealthy man pondered what to do and determined that he would build larger barns to store all his crops and goods so that he could then rest, relax and enjoy life—“eat, drink, and be merry” (verse 19).

But in the parable God speaks to this wealthy man and calls him a fool. He’s putting his store in all of these things, but his life could end that very night! “Then whose will those things be which you have provided?” (verse 20).

In other words, you can’t take your abundance with you when you die. That was the point of Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes 5:15: “As he came from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return, to go as he came; and he shall take nothing from his labor which he may carry away in his hand.”

Jesus then concluded His story with its lesson: “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21).

Is it wrong to own things?

So, does this mean we shouldn’t have things—especially an abundance of things?

Does God want everyone to have a minimum of possessions—just what we need? Does He want us to choose to live an austere, bare-bones existence?

No. God is not against physical blessings in this life. Faithful rich people like Abraham can be pleasing to God. It’s not wrong for us to have things—even lots of things. But they shouldn’t be clutter. And they shouldn’t take away from our true purpose in life.

The right approach toward abundance

Having abundance can be good—provided we have the right attitude toward our possessions. In 1 Timothy 6:17-19 Paul gave Timothy, his son in the faith, instructions for wealthy Church members:

“Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.”

Those verses contain things that we should guard against (being haughty and trusting in riches), but they also contain three valuable action points with regard to physical wealth:

1. Recognize, acknowledge and thank God as the Giver of blessings. God “gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). He is the One who gives and He does so richly—abundantly, copiously. He is our Father who likes to give good things to His children (Matthew 7:11). And He wants us to enjoy what He has given us.  
2. Use abundance to serve and give to others. God wants us to be “rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share” (1 Timothy 6:18). He wants us to work productively so that we can help those who are in need (Ephesians 4:28). By doing so, we let our lights shine and visibly show God’s way of life.
3. Focus on the future and what will matter then. Even as we enjoy our physical blessings and use them to serve others, we should keep in mind that these things don’t last. They aren’t what we should be storing up! What we should store up is “a good foundation for the time to come, that [we] may lay hold on eternal life” (1 Timothy 6:19).

When abundance becomes clutter

To keep our focus on our future as children of God in His eternal Kingdom, we also need to make sure our abundance isn’t distracting us from what is truly valuable.

At some point abundance can become clutter or junk. It may only be physical, but it can have an impact on our mental, emotional and spiritual state. When we have too much stuff, we can have trouble finding things. We can have difficulty cleaning. We can feel embarrassed to have people into our house. 

If your abundance has ceased being a blessing and has instead become a frustration or a burden, take steps to lighten your load. There are plenty of online resources with tips for decluttering.

Our treasure

In terms of physical things in this life, “godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6). Jesus tells us that our Father knows that we need physical things, and we can trust Him to provide for us: “But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you” (Luke 12:31).

But our greatest treasure should be like a pearl of great price (Matthew 13:46). The treasure of our calling to be part of God’s Kingdom is so beautiful and valuable that it’s worth all that we have!