A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

I was reading in the May 1987 issue of the Ensign last night, and during Elder William Grant Bangerter’s talk “What It Means to Be a Saint”, he included a story from President Spencer W. Kimball:

“One day,” he said, “a friend took me to his ranch. He unlocked the door of a large new automobile, slid under the wheel, and said proudly, ‘How do you like my new car?’ We rode in luxurious comfort … to a beautiful new landscaped home, and he said with no little pride, ‘This is my home.’

“He drove to a grassy knoll. The sun was retiring behind the distant hills. He surveyed his vast domain. …

“With a wide sweeping gesture he boasted, ‘From the clump of trees, to the lake, to the bluff, and to the ranch buildings and all between—all this is mine. …

“I saw him lying in his death,” said President Kimball, “among luxurious furnishings in a palatial home. His had been a vast estate. … I spoke at his funeral, and I followed the cortege … to his grave, a tiny, oblong area the length of a tall man, the width of a heavy one.

“Yesterday I saw that same estate, yellow in grain, green in lucerne, white in cotton, seemingly unmindful of him who had claimed it” (Improvement Era, June 1968, pp. 81–82).

This story brought to mind a favorite scripture of mine, found in Luke 12:15. At this point in the Savior’s ministry he was speaking to “an innumerable multitude of people”, and one of them asked the Savior to talk to his brother and tell him to split some inheritance with him. The Savior refused and said “Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you”, and then he gives this warning: “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”

I would like to know the rest of the story told by President Kimball; I have a feeling that there may have been similar disputes over that inheritance as the one the Savior was asked to settle. To me this is a reminder that the purpose of this life is not, as a bumper sticker that I saw a lot in my youth states: “the one with the most toys wins”, because we obviously cannot take any of our earthly possessions with us when we die. The things that really matter in life are relationships with family and friends, growing in knowledge (both spiritual and temporal) and doing our best to serve God and our neighbors. I particularly like the statement by President Kimball that as he looked over the man’s land, it seemed “unmindful of him who had claimed it”. We may feel that we own our possessions, but surely they do not feel owned by us.