多年前，藝術家米高．蘭迪（Michael Landy）清點了他所有的財物，列出一份7,227件物品的清單。接著，他做了一件令人震驚的事。在倫敦最繁忙的購物區，他在一家廢棄的商店以類似工廠流水線的方式，公開將物品全部銷毀。衣物、藝術品、情書，甚至他的汽車，都被放在運輸帶，交由機器壓碎。當消費者在附近的百貨商店穿梭，蘭迪的行為藝術提出一個問題：「若沒有了所擁有的財物，我們還有什麼？」

這是個重要的問題，因大多數人購買物品是為了定義自己的價值或保障未來。耶穌的比喻講到有個人積聚財寶，過著揮霍享樂的生活。那人對自己說：「你有許多財物積存，可作多年的費用，只管安安逸逸地吃喝快樂吧！」（路加福音12章19節）但那晚他的生命被上帝取去後，他還剩下什麼？只剩下上帝對他的責備，因他錯過了生命中最重要的事情（20-21節）。

擁有財物並不是罪，就像蘭迪依然需要衣服。但若我們想要在擁有的物品中尋找生命的意義和價值時，耶穌提醒我們：「生命不在乎家道豐富」（15節）。若失去所有財物，你還有什麼呢？你仍然還是上帝深愛的兒女（詩篇103篇17節；以弗所書5章1節）。有了這個身分，我們能在上帝面前成為富足的人，也能與他人分享所擁有的。

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, artwork, 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 consumerist 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.