These objects can hold even more meaning beyond their everyday use. God wired our brains so that the sight, smell, and even the feel of objects in our lives can pull up memories from our past. This is why the devastation of wildfires and natural disasters cuts so deeply. Victims aren’t crying over a random rocking chair. They are weeping over their specific rocking chair—the one that rocked their newborn home from the hospital and went on to cradle their toddler after a fall.

Our camper van was packed full as it rolled west down the interstate. Colorado was the destination, and along with it, two weeks of camping, hiking, and exploring God’s beauty in the national parks. Unfortunately, our family never made it. A few hours into our trip, a defective battery cell in our camper van started a fire that consumed the entire vehicle within minutes. As we huddled with our kids in the grass beside the interstate, we thanked the Lord for his protection while we watched flames destroy our belongings. Favorite stuffed animals, toys, camera equipment, clothes, hiking gear, and journals with my children’s entries were all burned to nothing. In the weeks after, my husband and I found ourselves grieving all we lost, and at the same time, feeling a little guilty for it. 

Perhaps you’ve experienced the same tension in relation to your material belongings. You’ve felt a tinge of guilt while mourning the loss of a favorite quilt or worrying about damaging your favorite piece of furniture. After all, this stuff is temporary, so why should we grieve its loss? While this is true in part, it’s not the whole story. We must allow all of Scripture to teach us how to view the objects of this world.

Temporary Doesn’t Mean Evil

Scripture continually reminds us that our true home will come when Christ returns. While on earth, Jesus told his disciples that “Heaven and earth will pass away,” and he admonished them to lay up treasures in heaven, where moths, rust, and thieves could never reach them (Matt. 24:35, 6:19–21). Later we find Paul echoing the same message, telling the church to “Seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1). To the Corinthians he said, “Look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen” (2 Cor. 4:18). 

These verses, taken out of context, make it seem as if the material objects of this world hold no importance at all, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. The transience of these objects is highlighted not to condemn, but to urge the audience to understand that their hope cannot be placed in them. Our full security won’t ever be found in the objects of this world. The comfort from my child’s stuffed animal is fleeting; the joy in a pair of new shoes will soon disappear. Surely, we see the outworking of this reality throughout the book of Ecclesiastes as the author realizes that riches come and go, for naked we came into the world, and naked we shall return (Ecc. 5:15). The work of human hands can’t ever hold our hope and salvation from our sinful world—only our Savior can do that. 

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