When is less more? Recently our family has again joined the Adventist movement as we pack up to move to Indiana. Because we’re trying to sell our house in Lincoln the real estate agent told us to get our furnishings out of the house except for a few items so the house would look spacious. We filled the garage and a couple of storage bins. There could easily be seventy-five to a hundred boxes of books. Then there are the items of a lifetime that remind us where we’ve been and where we’re going. We rediscover handy devises like a piano dolly, a mitre box, tools that were bequeathed to me from my dad and toys from our daughter’s childhood. There are Christmas decorations and Sabbath candles along with dishes, cups and glasses; not to mention pictures, a bread machine  and, oh yes… boxes of old tax records. Let’s not forget the desks, book cases, weight bench and rolls of carpet that we set by the curb only to be grabbed up by another needy passerby.

 Last night for family worship we sat in the living room floor and looked around at our sparsely furnished home. “I like it,” was one reply. “With so few things everything has its place. “The house seems cleaner without so much stuff.”

How much clutter do you think is in our hearts? During these days of the final Investigative Judgement of the righteous there is a special work of purification for the people of God. 1 John 3 mentions that those who are expecting Jesus to come will be purifying themselves. You know, stuff… left over hard feelings from a year ago, soured attitudes of self pity and precious pious personal opinions that compose the sin most nearly unforgivable. I suppose the list of inconsistencies could go on and on. Soon we come to that fact that Adventists will always need a Savior.

Lord, lighten us up. Give us laughter once again so we can cherish our friends and love as you do. They are the greatest keep sakes for eternity. Everything else is just stacks up.

.