Life.  Some see it as a randomly assigned smattering of days with no purpose.  Others believe in divine appointments they rarely keep.  For most, everyday...is ordinary.  But it doesn't have to be.   What if we dared to go the narrow way? Join me in taking THE FAITH DARE.

Caution: Participating in this challenge might force you to give up some of the things (people?) dearest to you. This challenge could change your life.  Join at your own risk.

Friday, July 2, 2010

FAITHdare #18: Lifeboats and Missing Out

How would our spiritual lives change if we actually had to trust God to provide the things we need?

You might say, "Well, we do have to trust God to provide!"

And I would say REALLY? Do we really? With all of our savings plans and investments and 401k plans? Do we really have to trust Him to provide? I am certainly not sitting here nervously biting my nails, wondering where my next meal will come from.

Check out Matthew 6: 25-34. Can we even apply this scripture passage to our lives today? I just finished reading a biography on the life of Amy Carmichael, a missionary to India more than 100 years ago. She did not save up money for a rainy day, or store it away so she would have a lifeboat if storms hit. Rather, she used it to do God's work, to care for His lost children...trusting that He would provide her next meal. And here we can barely "afford" to sponsor a missionary, or give a small percentage of our income to the poor, while we sock away piles of money in our children's college funds and our retirement and "rainy day" accounts.

Are we missing out on some of the sweet fellowship with Christ that comes with a day-by-day dependence on His providence for our most basic needs? I think about our brothers and sisters around the world, many who do not know when they will eat again, when they will find clean water to drink, or where they will sleep that night. They have no choice but to lean on Jesus, to converse with Him throughout the day in abiding fellowship that is their only source of sustenance. Are we missing out? Maybe while we are sitting in our lifeboats, we are missing out on the most refreshing of swims. I can't help but wonder if our panic with the faltering economy is born out of a history of comfort. Most of the time, we have very little concern for how our basic needs will be cared for. I am what many here would call a "poor college student," and yet I have so much. And because I don't have to wonder how I will eat tomorrow, I am shaken when I am faced with even the slightest lack of anything.

I do not say all this to condemn myself or anyone else reading this, only to share what has been on my heart. While we place so much importance on saving and investing and, in a sense, hoarding, I wonder if we are missing out. We pity those who have not, while maybe we are in the most desperate state of all and do not even know it.

So I guess this is not so much a "dare" as it is an invitation to ponder and pray, then to share what is growing in your heart.

4 comments:

  1. I totally agree with you!!! My questions come from being married with 3 children. House repayments (should I have one?). School fees (should my kids just go to a public school?). Health cover? Do we need it? Telephone, internet, food, clothing, braces, kids sports, music lessons??

    If it was just me I think I would be living my life very differently. Jesus and Paul were single men.... Just questions...????

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  2. These are all really good questions...I don't have the answers, but I know they are things we need to be wrestling through. Problem is, most people just move on without doing the wrestling...
    Thanks for raising the questions!

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  3. Great post Abigail! I just posted a similar thing on my blog. This is so true and I am struggling. What God is clearly teaching me is to keep my eyes on myself. I am so prone to get frustrated with others and judgemental and just when I do God throws a curve ball at me to humble me. I then realize that I need to have the same grace on others as God has with me and my pride. Meanwhile, I am trying to wrestle with this for myself. I like how you said wrestle. We do need to do that. Should I sell my good china I barely use? Should we go down to one car? I need to do more than just entertain these thoughts, but really wrestle. Thanks!!!

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  4. David and I continue to wrestle with this, especially in what we are teaching our children. So often, they have everything the need with little concept of cost or the circumstances of others in the world. We are working on it (collecting change in a big water pitcher in our dining room to raise money for Haiti) but there is a big part of me that wants to get rid of everything and move across the world, living in a hut and serving others. Another part of me says - follow God and He will lead you. So I guess that's where David and I are. Trying to follow Him, even though it is a daily struggle to live with more confidence in Him than in my bank account.

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