Can’t Buy Me Love…
09.15.24
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on Earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21
300 million. Tom Brady, former quarterback on the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is not only one of the best to play that position, but is one of the most successful athletes in American history. And with a net worth of around 300 million dollars, he has a lot more earthly treasures than just rings and trophies. Love him or hate him, it is hard to argue that Tom’s life is the pinnacle of what many would consider “making it.”
And yet… I often remember these words from Brady during the height of his NFL career. In a 60-Minutes interview he confessed, “there are times where I’m not the person that I want to be. Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there is something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say ‘hey man, this is what it is!’ I reached my goal. I reached my dream, my life. Me, I think, ‘God, there’s gotta be more than this?” Quite a sobering thought to hear from someone that many would probably assume never has a care or concern in the world and must always feel like everything is “perfect.”
Think 300 million dollars is a number that takes your breath away? How about this one. 5.6 billion dollars. According to the U.S Census Bureau, there was 5.6 billion dollars spent on the construction of self-storage facilities in 2023. This construction increased the value of the self-storage industry to over 44 billion. This means that there are billions of dollars each year going toward the protection and preservation of our physical treasures. Now, there are surely situations that necessitate having facilities like this available for emergencies or limited space, but we all can admit that these situations do not account for this entire industry.
One more number… 83. There have been 83 episodes of the once hit TLC program titled “Hoarders: Buried Alive.” Each of these episodes gave an inside look at individuals who’s lives have become so consumed by their possessions (their treasures whether others agreed or not) that they eventually isolated them from normal participation with the rest of society and disabled them from being able to live a healthy life. And the most disheartened part is that there were millions of eyes watching their lives from afar, when what they were often desperately trying to replace with their stuff was their need for relationship.
Tom Brady is right. There is more to this life than our earthly treasures. And it is far too easy, whether from success or tragedy, for our lives to be consumed by these same treasures. And whether we want to admit it or not, they often hold the power to separate us from flourishing relationships with God and each other (a descriptor of the “heaven” spoken of in the above verses.) If we choose to value the “treasures of heaven” (experiencing the fruit of interconnected relationships) over the treasures of this world maybe there would be less metaphorical rust, moths, and theft robbing humanity of the joys of God’s Kingdom. The lack of purpose, waste of resources, and loss of dignity in each of these examples is not meant to shame or discourage but are meant as reminders that our earthly treasures cannot replace our need for God and each other. And whether the goal is to have more earthly treasures than someone else or to use what we have to replace someone else, those earthly treasures will leave us unfulfilled. We are at our best when we value God and each other infinitely greater than any other possessions we can gain. And when we learn how to “treasure” these holy encounters of relationships with one another, our hearts, and the hearts of those around us, are healed and renewed.