HOARDER TO WHOLENESS

Have you ever watched that show "Hoaders"? It's about people who literally are buried in their stuff. I has over taken their houses and their life to the point that they can no longer live a normal life. They have such huge piles of stuff everywhere they can't sit on the furniture, eat at a dining room table, sleep in their beds, use their showers or tubs, or even cook food in their own kitchens. Some of the worst shows I saw they didn't even take out their trash so the home was crawling with rodents and cock roaches. The people would get very upset if others came in and tried to remove anything. They would say "That is my stuff not yours...you can't take my stuff". They would rather wallow in filth than to give up their stuff. Not all but most of the people associate a memory or an event with their things. It was usually something that happened in their life that had caused them to hoard to such an extreme. Do you know that we all have things that we hoard? I'm sure you are saying "Uhm no I don't live like that in filth and full of stuff that I don't need. Just because you are not surrounded by stuff and filth doesn't mean you are not a hoarder. What about that pain, anger, unforgiveness, insecurities, sickness, brokenness, sexual immorality, hatred, or anything else that doesn't belong inside you? Wouldn't that make you a hoarder too? Inside you you have built up so much of you have such huge piles of it and filth that it has over taken you that you are not living the life that God meant for you to live. You would rather wallow in it than to give it up. It's easier to hold onto it because it's like a security blanket of sorts. You get mad because God is moving in others lives but yet you still continue to hoard inside until you become bitter. Some of you are too stubborn to let go of your STUFF because you have a right to feel that way because of what someone else did to you or said to you and you want to continue to complain about it. God doesn't want you to hoard all that inside of you. He's waiting for you to take the first step toward him so that he can come and clean all that STUFF up that is inside you. Don't let your hoarding keep you from the freedom, joy, peace of mind, and wholeness that God has for you. As christians we would rather hold onto it than to admit that we are hoarding it inside. Don't let what others may say or think hold you back from letting God come and clean up the STUFF. He wants to take you from Hoarder to Wholeness and live the life that he has waiting for you.