Some years ago, artist Michael Landy counted up everything he owned, making a list of 7,227 possessions. What he did next was eye-opening. Setting up a factory in London’s busiest shopping district, Landy publicly destroyed it all. Clothes, artworks, love letters, even his car, were broken down, placed on a conveyor belt, and fed into grinders. As consumers darted in and out of department stores nearby, Landy’s performance art asked, “Who are we without our possessions?”
It’s an important question because most of us buy things to define ourselves or secure our futures. Jesus told a parable about a man who horded his wealth and embraced a consumer lifestyle. “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years,” the man tells himself. “Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry” (Luke 12:19). But what was left when his life was “demanded” from him that night? Only God’s rebuke at having missed what’s most important (vv. 20-21).
It isn’t a sin to own things. Michael Landy still needed clothes. But when we’re tempted to find life and identity in what we own, Jesus reminds us that “life does not consist in an abundance of possessions” (v. 15). Who would you be without all your goods? Still a dearly loved child of God (Psalm 103:17; Ephesians 5:1). Out of this secure identity, we can be rich toward God and others.
