Life is more than things

In Luke 12 we read of a man who approached Jesus wanting him to force his brother to divide the family inheritance with him. Jesus responded that "one's life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses," and went on to tell a parable of a man who had acquired much in life and wanted to enjoy the abundance of his possessions. In the parable God said to the man that night he would die and asked who would then own those possessions.

As regular readers of this blog know, I enjoy going to auctions and I conduct auctions. They are a fun way to spend time and occasionally find a treasure. Unfortunately, some auctions are not that much fun, and that is when families are there to fight over the things being sold.

I once attended an auction in Kentucky that consisted of a large estate. It was obvious that family members were bidding on some of the items they wanted to keep which is not uncommon in an estate sale. One piece that was evidently a battle between two family members was over a small child's chair. It was just a common child's chair that might bring $5.00 at most auctions. Two men, who I assume  were related, were determined to own that chair. It finally sold for over $600.00! It's not the first time I've seen something like that happen at an auction.

At least no tempers flared at that auction like I have seen occasionally at others. Auctioneers have told me stories of family members who were left out of the will or were not given things they wanted from the estate who caused problems at their auctions.

Things break, they rust, they get lost, but family relations are supposed to last forever. It's a shame when those relationships are destroyed over things. As I've written before, it's just stuff. Yes, it might have meaning to an individual, but it's still stuff. As Jesus taught in the above parable, there will come a time when our lives will end and someone else will have our stuff. That stuff won't have any meaning to us then. The only things that will have meaning then are our relationship with God and the memories our loved ones have of us. Our relationship with God will be determined by our acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and the memories our loved ones will have of us will be determined by the relationship we had with them. Those memories are far more important than fighting over stuff.

My advice to executors of an estate is to give items that have meaning to family members before disposing of the estate. If a sale needs to be held to pay debts, then either ask a fair amount for the items or let them know they can bid on the items they want just like any other bidder at the auction. One word of caution though: They will have to pay for the items they purchase. I attended an auction once when a family member was arguing with the auctioneer about having to pay for something that belonged to a family member. He finally paid for it but wasn't happy! If it's bought at an auction it must be paid for regardless of who owned it.

Don't allow things to interfere with relationships with loved ones. Life is too short to be concerned about stuff.