In general, people will favour different kinds of hobbies or special interests to possess some material items as their personal treasures. One of my classmates who works as a part-time real estate agent and he is also a handyman. He can fix plumbing, replacing floor tiles and the paint job of the whole house. At a time, I visited him, he was fixing his basement and the other time, some nine months later he was replacing the floor tiles with marble stone. The house was kept renovating all the time and always dusty. That is my friend’s hobby, keep changing things here and there and he loves what he is doing. My hobby is photography, so I always keep an eye on this new camera and equipment and so forth. The idea is we want something new constantly like to own something that we possess in our heart and that makes us happy.
Then later, I learn from the bible that material things will never satisfy our desires. The excitement will diminish with time when we own that something special in our heart long enough. On one occasion I was in a retreat. The pastor told us that his son owned more than three thousand DVDs in his room. And he prayed for him someday he would let go of his heart to own all the DVDs. After his continuous praying for more than two years, he finally yielded his heart to Jesus and he discarded all his DVDs.Proverbs contrast two ways of life: a life spent pursuing riches versus a life grounded in loving God and giving generously. In The Message, Eugene Peterson paraphrases Proverbs 11:28 like this: “A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump; a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree.” What a picture! Two ways of life: one flourishing and fruitful, one hollow and barren. The world tells us that material abundance equals “the good life.”
In contrast, God tells us to be rooted in Him, to experience His goodness, and to flourish fruitfully. When our lives tie with Jesus, God reshapes our hearts and desires, transforming us
from a hollow and barren life into a fruitful life.