What we do ...

with what we have. We've got some issues with that.

Like ...

the mess in the garage.  This is NOT my garage ... it does resemble mine though, I'm just too embarrassed to show you what mine truly looks like.  Suffice it to say, though, if you were doing an "I spy" of my garage, you would definitely be finding some diet coke, a ton of medical missions junk, all the supplies from Faith in Practice, more boxes than I can count (full and not full) ... I won't go on.    And just tonight, I was trying to clean out the guest room closet enough that my company can squeeze a few clothes in there this weekend ... it is OVERFLOWING with STUFF! 

 

Not complaining here ... but when I moved every 1-2 years, I kept the clutter down much better than I do now ... because it was easier to toss it than to move it.  Now, FIVE whole years in one house ... I am back to accumulating WAY too much stuff.  And let's not even start on the clothes I still own that I haven't worn in 1,2 ... 5 years!  Yeh ... STUFF!!  I think it's pretty apparent that we all have a LOT more of it than we need.

Today in Radical David opens with Jesus' command to the rich young man to go and sell everything he had to follow Him.  If that was said in our churches today, no doubt there would be a HUGE collective gasp, followed with a ton of follow up questions about what exactly he meant by that.  David makes two good points about that passage.  The first is that some will read that to mean that Jesus ALWAYS calls His followers to sell everything they have and give it to the poor.  He never says that.  But the second misconception is that Jesus NEVER calls His followers to give up their "stuff" to follow Him. 

I was reminded today reading that passage that Jesus didn't ask him to sell everything to be mean ... or even to try to trick him or test him.  He asked him to give everything he owned because he loved him!  Mark 10:21 says ...

Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

I think we forget that we have God's riches ... we've been given the kingdom.  David Platt says, "When God tells us to give extravagantly, we can trust HIM to do the same in our lives.  And this is really the core issue of it all.  Do we TRUST Him???"

So, back to our stuff.  I have been convicted today about how much stuff I have that I don't need ... and who might could use it.  But also just about the haphazard, unwise way I spend what I have.  I asked a friend who works for Global Samaritans, the orphanage in Zambia that we worked with last summer, to send me a kid that I could sponsor there.  It had been on my heart since we were there ... and I have always said I would LOVE, LOVE to adopt a little black boy.  So, if bringing one into my home is not God's plan for NOW, then investing in one at Global Samaritans could be a way that I could do that.  But, then the practical part of me set in.  Was I budgeted for an extra $50 a month?  Yeh ... I mean, that's one or two meals out a week ... it's drinking water with a meal rather than diet coke.  It's being more realistic about what I buy.  I put back $15 worth of stuff that was in my basket at Wal-Mart today that I really didn't "need" ... really didn't even "want" ... it's being wiser with what I spend.  Those things seem silly in comparison to helping provide food, shelter, and an education for an adorable little boy in Zambia named Joe. 

The question was posed ... What if God has given us excess, not so we can have more, but so we can GIVE more??  Wouldn't that be just like Him?  And you know what, He is big enough and able enough to meet the needs of the poor without our help.  But, He chooses to use us because of what it does IN us.  I think it's time to start looking at what I can give away.  Maybe that garage is a good place to start ... and "adopting" Joe is a good place to go.