So, I'm getting kind of tired of hearing my own voice = ] Any last wisdom, thoughts, ideas, etc. about this topic of possessions and the kingdom of God? Any recommended further resources? How has God worked in your heart in this area? Please share! Next week we move on...

FAITHdare #24: Dream Big

"The more you have, the more you have to lose. The longer you have, the more you become dependent on the available resources. Wealth moves us to depending on resources where once we were depending on resourcefulness. If we are not careful, what we have can establish the limitations of what we can imagine" (from Wide Awake, by E. McManus).

Today in my church, an observation was made: The more we have, the more anxiety we seem to have. Funny, isn't it? As we get more stuff, we suddenly have dilemmas that we don't really need to have...Should I wear this outfit, or THIS outfit? What in the world am I going to make for dinner? Or should we go out to eat instead? Which car do I buy? Do I put my child in baseball, or soccer?

Have you ever wondered how many of our "problems" are of our own creation? What if we only had one outfit? No more dilemma. What if we only had enough food for the next meal? Poof! Tough decisions fly out the window. And on and on... For most of the world, there is no choosing which outfit to wear or which meal to cook. "The more you have, the more you have to lose..." And so we become anxious. How do we keep from losing?

Perhaps what we don't realize is that we are being choked. "...Others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful" (Mark 4:18-19). Is your stuff choking you? Is your stuff hindering your growth as a follower of Christ? Do you find yourself anxious about many things, things that you don't even need?

Do you need to do some weeding?

I want to be able to dream God's big dreams. I want to be free to go wherever He calls me, whenever He calls me. And I realize I need to be careful to avoid accumulation of stuff, because "what we have can establish the limitations of what we can imagine." If I get too comfortable in a nice house, with plush things and all the comforts of the "American dream," dreaming God's dreams becomes increasingly difficult as I begin to rely on resources in place of the Source of Life.

I want to be free to dream big with God, don't you? In order to do so, though, we are going to have to expand our worlds. "When you invite God to give you a dream for your life, you will find God expanding the parameters of your concern" (McManus). When you are feeling anxious about how to keep from losing all the time, it's hard to be concerned about those outside of your world.

This week, I am inviting you to dream big with God.

FAITHdare #24:
What can you and God do together with your possessions? How can you use the resources God has given you to expand His kingdom, to care for those who have less? Dream big with God!

If you're a music person, this song came out this week and totally spoke to my heart. If you have a minute, check it out!

"Father break my heart for what breaks yours. Give me open hands and open doors. Put your light in my eyes and let me see that my own little world is not about me."

FAITHdare #23: [Guest post!] To whom much is given much is required

I am so excited to share another guest post with you all = ] It has been a joy to watch God moving in the life of my friend, Julie. I pray we are all challenged by the way God is moving among us!

FAITHdare #23:
What is God calling you to?

"To whom much is given much is required.

I had heard this so many times in my life and for more than 30 years of it I believed it never
applied to me. I never saw myself as one who was given much. I grew up in a middle class
family and had a dad who did an incredible job of providing for our family, but in my immature
mind I was always busy looking at those who had so much more.

As a young adult, my outlook didn’t change. My job as a reporter left me with a meager salary
while my friends were free to spend as much as they wanted. And the feeling of playing catch-
up to the American Dream only deepened when I married my husband, who was 8 years behind
those his age in earning potential.

The first several years of our marriage was paying off his debt from bachelorhood, struggling
through the stresses of financial insecurity, and seeing the ugliness of sin and selfishness drive
some of our arguments over money. Secretly, I would walk the streets of our little town gawking
over the big, beautiful historic homes and wondering when and if we’d ever be able to move up
from our two-bedroom bungalow.

When was God going to pull through for us? When would Jeff finally get a career he liked
that paid the salary that would give us that house. That mini van. That image. When?

I had accepted Christ in my kindergarten Sunday School class and had watched the Holy Spirit
move in my life and transform me as a child of God. But God would allow me to live with this
obscure view of money and possessions for more than 30 years before His grace would step in
and say it was enough.

It happened two years ago. My husband came home from work and shared how he had
heard a great radio broadcast from Wess Stafford, the president of Compassion International.

“I have always thought it would be great to sponsor a child for each of our children,” he said as I
prepared dinner in the kitchen.

“That’s nice,” I said, but inside I was thinking something else. What?! Sponsor a child?! We
need to get a little further in our little life here before we can give up more than $30 a month.

But at the time, God has been teaching me and Jeff something different: obedience. So, a
couple of months later when we were at a Michael W. Smith concert and he started talking
about Compassion, I looked at Jeff and said, “If God is laying this on your heart, we need to do
it.”

We raised our hand and a woman handed us a packet. A boy from Rwanda, Africa, the same
exact age of our oldest son. At that moment, a journey had begun and I didn’t even know it.

I spent the next week, wondering how the heck we were going to pay this monthly fee.

Seriously, how? And then God grabbed me. There I was walking into Target getting ready to
spend $40 on a bag full of non-essentials and God said, “This is how you’re going to pay for it.
The same way you pay for stuff you don’t really need to get by.”

From that moment on, the Holy Spirit moved like wildfire throughout my heart. I got on
Compassion’s website and was extremely moved by these children. I read up on our little guy in
Rwanda and was deeply convicted about the state of our own home and my heart. Here, I was
so proud of how we were going to help this little guy, when actually he was helping me. God
literally took my face and turned it from looking at all that I didn’t have, to what I did.

I became obsessed with what I could give to God. We sponsored another child (this time
the age of our middle child) and I even became an advocate with Compassion. But it wasn’t
enough. I lay in bed one night crying to God. What else can I do? I had been so ignorant for so
long. And then I felt God turning my eyes to my engagement ring. I felt this overwhelming need
to sell it. To show God that only He mattered. Not only had the ring cost a lot, but it now was a
symbol of who Jeff and I used to be. When we bought it, we were part of a mentality that bigger
was better. That wasn’t me any more.

I prayed about it and asked God to soften my husband’s heart. He did and the day after
Christmas, my husband drove from jeweler to jeweler to find the best deal. He sold it and right
after he came back from depositing the check in the bank I donated it to help orphans. It was
the best feeling in the world. And the first, but not last, time I would feel a bit of what I call
eternal joy.

Since that time, I have found that the only joy I experience is when it comes to investing in
God’s kingdom. A year ago this month, God began a new journey in our hearts: this time
adoption. It came out of nowhere, but has taken us to places in our faith that I would have
never gone had I not followed His call. It may be a year before we see that journey come to
completion, but in God’s eyes it’s all wrapped in one. For the place we will go to pick up our
son is the same little country he used to open my heart and eyes in the first place: the beautiful
country of Rwanda.

I now live my days thinking less of my things and more of God’s kingdom. My joy comes not
from something new for my home, but from the new little ribbon we buy Maria, the girl we
sponsor in Tanzania. For after this world burns up, there’s only two things that will go with us to
eternity: God’s word and His people."

FAITHdare #22: Unburying Ourselves

A year ago yesterday, my dad went to be with Jesus. And yesterday, as I was reflecting on everything my dad taught me, I was reminded of his other-worldly perspective. I'll never forget coming home one day to hear about how my dad's wallet had been stolen out of his car. His response? "Whoever stole it must have needed it more than I did!" Oh the joy he embodied as he lived with so little tying him to this world.

You might be wondering why, after spending a month of FAITHdare focusing on money, we are spending the next month on possessions. Pretty much the same thing, right? Maybe. Sort of. What I want to point us to, though, is the reality that our relationship to our things could be very indicative of our place between this world and the next.

Luke 12:15-31 (NIV)

¹⁵Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

¹⁶And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. ¹⁷He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'

¹⁸"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '

²⁰"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'

²¹"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

We live such complex lives, filled with busyness and THINGS. We seem to be obsessed with getting MORE, with storing up "goods" in bigger "barns." Are we also storing up eternal treasures?

I find that the more I have, the tighter I cling to it all. Remember this? I have to admit there have been days this summer when I have thought about how nice it would be to "freshen" my wardrobe. But they have been few and far between, and vastly overwhelmed by days where I am consciously and unconsciously grateful for how much simpler my life is without a closet running over with new outfits and accessories.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus commanded his disciples to take nothing with them when he sent them out (Mt. 10:9-10)? Have you ever gone on a vacation without packing ahead of time? Sure, you may not be as "comfortable" without your entire bathroom cabinet with you, but you sure have less to worry about. What if we similarly uncluttered our lives? Would we have more time for things of eternal value?

What if we had only one set of dishes per person in our families? Maybe more time could be spent in family conversation around the table {instead of in the kitchen dealing with load after load of dishes}.

What if we lived with fewer clothes? Maybe we could spend more time serving our neighbor {instead of washing and sorting through loads and loads of laundry}.

What if we had fewer television sets and media games? Maybe we could spend more time instructing our children about the things of God {instead of sitting for hours in front of a screen}.

What if we just plain had LESS STUFF? Maybe we could use more time seeking out the heart of God {instead of dusting, cleaning, tripping over, stressing about, looking for, breaking up fights over, and coveting THINGS that won't last anyway}.

Have you ever thought about your stuff with a different perspective? Ever thought about living with half of what you've got, and what that would do to your eternal perspective? Have you ever taken inventory of all that is standing between you and seeing eternity? Maybe it's time.

FAITHdare #22:

Take a walk through your living place, noticing all of your things. What do you have that you are afraid to get rid of? What do you have that you forgot was even there? What are you "storing up" that could be used instead for kingdom purposes? Take action as you feel led.

FAITHdare #21: What's Left?

I live so often with a perspective of immediacy...rather than one fixed on eternity. I think my relationship with money all comes down to this one simply complex factor: Do I desire Christ above all else? Do I LONG for Him, for the day when I will see Him face to face? Because if I do, all else--money, investments, retirement accounts--will fade in comparison. It's not rocket science. We have been given the pearl of great price...what are we going to do with it?

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it" (Mt. 13:45-46).

This is our last week looking at our relationship to money. I love what Cindy shared with us last week...and I think it reflects this parable. We are clinging to our land and our houses and our furniture, when we could easily trade all that JUNK in for a treasure that will NEVER spoil, perish, or fade. Will you choose to live with that perspective, or will you continue to cling to earthly things? Choose THIS DAY whom you will serve...for you cannot serve two masters.

I would strongly urge you to take an hour this week (if you are married, do so with your spouse!) to really examine what you are doing with the earthly resources God has placed in your trust. Are you hoarding them for a day you have not even been promised? Are you wasting them on todays that will soon be yesterdays? Or are you investing them in LIVES and RELATIONSHIPS that whisper of the kingdom of God here among us? Don't wait any longer...for tomorrow will vanish before you know it. What will you have left when you stand before the King?

FAITHdare #20: Do you trust Him?.....GUEST POST!!!

I'm beginning to wonder if all it comes down to one question: Do we trust Him? In the garden, Eve bought into the lie that God was withholding something from her. Isn't that what we, deep down, think? Does God really have our best in mind if He asks us to give up everything to follow Him? I pray that you all would begin to wrestle with that question this week, as my new friend, but already dear sister in Christ, Cindy, shares her journey with us. Be moved by the Spirit, and share your reflections!

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“Although my memory’s fading, I remember two things very clearly. I’m a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”~ John Newton

How and when God chooses to open our eyes is a great mystery to me. But I know by His grace He does it, because it has happened to me.

It was my last day in Uganda, Africa, in 2006, and I was ready to be back home. My husband and I were sitting in a tiny church office where hand-written posters about Jesus hung on the walls. We were talking with our good friend, a Ugandan pastor named John, when a small frame stepped in to the doorway. There stood a young boy, obviously malnourished, head down, muttering something we couldn’t understand. He appeared to be about 8 years old.

Three times we asked him to repeat himself, but he spoke so softly, we couldn’t make out the words. Finally we looked at John and asked what this little boy was saying.

“Will you pay my school fees?”

A thousand things flashed through my head at that moment. The first being, this little guy is starving. Why is he asking to go to school? A Mirinda grape soda had just been ordered for me and arrived on a tray, icy cold with a straw in it. I handed it to him.

I asked him to come stand by me so I could hear him. He took two steps to cross the room and was by my side. “What is your name?” “Vincent.” “Vincent, what class are you in?” “S4.” Disbelief. It is not possible that this small boy is a freshman in high school. So I repeat and clarify my question. “How old are you?” “13.”

At that moment, I remember thinking that if I did not take care of this little boy, I would be the most evil person on the planet. That was my exact thought.

Fast forward 4 weeks. I’m back at home hiking a small mountain near our home. At the top, I look down and see the large custom homes sprawling across beautifully landscaped yards with swimming pools. As I look left to see the homes, I notice my strong desire to live there. How could I have an appetite for this after what I had seen? I am remembering Vincent, and I am, possibly for the first time, acutely aware that I am in the midst of a struggle. I did not want to want those homes. But I did. And my desire for them did not vanish, no matter how hard I thought about Vincent.

Mercifully, God took us back to Uganda just 4 weeks later. We visited Vincent and his mother in their tiny shack of a home. Vincent’s mother was widowed, and she ran a food store the size of a small closet in front of her home. We learned both Vincent and his mother had AIDS.

This time in Uganda, I noticed something. I noticed that when I was in the midst of poverty, my want-er stopped wanting. Maybe not entirely, but it lessened. Interesting.

Back home to the U.S. again after 11 days. It’s now August of 2006. I had just come face to face with abject poverty twice within two months. Sometime over the course of the next year, I sat in a chair in my living room, looking at our gorgeous wood floors, crying, because there lay $20,000. $20,000 that I walked on, but could have fed Vincent and a whole host of other children.

But nothing changed. Like good Pharisees, we still gave our 10 or 15% to God, because that’s what we had been taught to do. But nothing changed in our lifestyle. We didn’t give any more because of what we had encountered. We had been involved with this ministry in Africa for more than 10 years. We had now seen firsthand the desperate need. We had met Vincent and visited his home. But in my heart, there was a battle that was not yet won.

In 2007, we began reading a book by Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions and Eternity. I had grown up in the church and had gone to a Christian school. But this book was a compilation and study of what God’s word has to say about money, and I had not heard anything like it. My husband and I sat there reading one night, and he shook his head sadly and said, “I’ve been a terrible steward. If I were God, I’d fire me.”

“For the word of God is living and active, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit… discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

In 2007, God began teaching and molding us. I discovered that it is His Word and His Word alone that brings conviction that leads to change. I knew all about poverty in my head, I advocated against it and wrote about it, even running a small non-profit organization, and I had seen it with my eyes, but it was His Word that pierced me, that revealed the true condition of my heart, and that began to change me.

That same year, thanks to the book!, we made a decision to sell our home. The instant we made that decision, I thought: “Well, at least if we have to go live in an ugly home, I will still have my beautiful brand new furniture.” By this time, the Holy Spirit was moving rapidly in my life, and I was almost instantly convicted. I couldn’t believe it. Now, not only would I be selling our home that we had poured a year into re-modeling and decorating, but I would be selling the furniture that I dearly loved and had spent countless hours shopping for and purchasing.

At this point, it really became a grit-your-teeth-and-do-it thing. I knew in my head that Jesus said to love my neighbor as myself (which I was clearly not doing), and that if I loved him I would obey His commands.

And for me, the process was a bit like ripping off a bandaid. I was scared to do it. I was afraid of the pain. But when I took the bandaid off, it stung, but only for a moment, and the sting was followed by lasting relief. The process of selling our home took more than a year. And it also took more than a year to sell our “stuff”—furniture, home décor, jewelry, you name it, I sold it. With each item that left the house, I felt a bit of a sting, but each time, the sting lessened.

And in the middle of this process, I discovered something HUGE. SATAN IS A BIG FAT LIAR. He had lied to me my entire life, and I had believed him. I believed that having nice things would make me happy and that parting with my things and my pretty house would make me sad. I could not believe the new freedom that was beginning to emerge in my soul. To this day, I cannot believe it.

I learned that God is totally trustworthy. That He tells the truth, and when He says that friendship with the world is enmity with God, it is true. And when He said that we cannot serve both God and Money, it is true. And when He says that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil and that through this craving some have wandered away and pierced themselves with many pangs…it is true. I had pierced myself with many pangs, needlessly.

But if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” (Exclamation points, mine J)

He came and he set me free from myself. He set me free from my love affair with the world. Really and truly free. I didn’t know this kind of freedom was possible. I realize now that I was in bondage. It really does feel like I’m born again, for the very first time.

One of the last things I did before leaving that house was to dump my collection of home magazines and magazine clippings. It was an act of worship. And it was completely freeing. I recalled what I had learned in Uganda. That when I was staring poverty in the face, my want-er became less active. I realized that these home magazines presented an opportunity for idolatry. They in no way focused me on His kingdom, and the love of beautiful home décor distracted me from my purpose and reason for existence.

“But, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

And I know now that all I need to do to obtain that freedom is to obey. Obedience is followed by blessing. And sometimes we just need to grit our teeth and do it, but we will never, ever be sorry that we have followed His ways.

A few months ago, a friend of ours had a garage sale to raise money for orphans, and I looked around our home to see what else could be sold. I grabbed all of the little items that hadn’t sold before—picture frames, fake plants…a bunch of less-than-$10 items. There on my kitchen counter sat my beautiful paper-towel holder. I felt the familiar sting. (Seriously, how can one love a paper-towel holder?!) But I know the drill now. I picked it up, put it with the pile of things, and it sold. And you know what? I don’t miss it!! I am happy that $8 went to feed an orphan rather than sit and look pretty on my counter.

I am thankful beyond words that He loves us enough to pursue us, to change us, to open our blind eyes. Though I’m sure the scales have yet to fall off in many areas, I can still say with John Newton, “I was once blind, but now I see.”

Vincent is alive, and though still suffering from AIDS, he is on ARV’s that help abate the toll on his body. He is sponsored by one of our friends and attends school. His brother and sister are sponsored as well.

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FAITHdare #19: Eternal Investments

To be honest, I'm having a hard time coming up with "money dares." Why? You'd think with my verbosity I could come up with SOMETHING, but I think Jesus pretty much gave the greatest "money dare" anyone could ever issue, and so that leaves me with, well, reflection over HIS dare:

"'Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven'" (Mark 10:21).

Now I know someone is going to say this, so I might as well say it...no, I am not taking this verse "in context." But this verse reminds me of another passage, Ecclesiastes 5:10-15:

¹⁰ Whoever loves money never has money enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.
This too is meaningless.

¹¹ As goods increase,
so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owner
except to feast his eyes on them?

¹² The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
whether he eats little or much,
but the abundance of a rich man
permits him no sleep.

¹³ I have seen a grievous evil under the sun:
wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,

¹⁴ or wealth lost through some misfortune,
so that when he has a son
there is nothing left for him.

¹⁵ Naked a man comes from his mother's womb,
and as he comes, so he departs.
He takes nothing from his labor
that he can carry in his hand.

Tonight I was talking to someone whose family is spending a large sum of bonus money earned through work to bring two orphans into their loving home. This someone's family has already adopted (more than once), and many would say, "You've done your 'duty!' Use that money to take a vacation!" But you know what I realized as I was talking to her? She and her family are really getting the good end of the deal! They are investing in things that last...not in vacations and television sets and grand homes, but in lives! They GET IT! They are taking the ultimate "money dare," from the lips of the one who gave up His LIFE so that we really can invest in what matters--ETERNITY! This family can be certain that, should their lives end tomorrow, they have invested in kingdom wealth--a wealth that will not fade, spoil, or perish.

If you take a good look at your life, can you honestly say at the end of the day that you are investing your short-term, earthly wealth in eternal things?

Because I don't think I can say it any better than Solomon:

"Naked a man comes from his mother's womb,
and as he comes, so he departs.
He takes nothing from his labor
that he can carry in his hand."

If you were to die tomorrow, would you have any investments to cash in when you stand before Jesus? Or did you leave all those behind?

FAITHdare #18: Revisited

This week, as I was reflecting on what I wrote in the last post, I began to wonder WHY we are so hesitant to give. Here are a few reasons I came up with:

We can't fathom living without our comforts.

We don't think we will really be making a difference.

We don't know who or what to support.

We are lazy and just don't take the time to think about it.

We think we are entitled to what we have.

Can you add to this list?

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.

FAITHdare #8: Revisited

How has God challenged you this week as you examined the idol of possessions?

I'd like to share a way in which God has challenged me. So, I'm young. I don't have a mortgage; I don't have kids. But I still have stuff, and I still spend money. And God has been and is continually convicting me with how I use and spend the resources He has given me. I may not be rich according to America's standards, but I am incredibly blessed to have more than I need and am therefore rich in the world's eyes.

So...recently I opened my closet and felt sick to my stomach when I saw everything that was in there, much of which rarely sees the light of day. I decided it was time to dig through it all.

Yep, that's everything I got rid of. Maybe because of the bad quality of the pictures you can't grasp the gravity of this situation. Let me help you out...it added up to almost 4 large trash bags full of clothes. I am scared to know how much money I spent on all of these clothes. Many people around the world don't even own a shirt.


My new mantra is, "Have what you wear and wear what you have." Sad thing is, most days I don't even feel a difference. I'm in scrubs half the week, for crying out loud! As someone reminded me recently, though, NOT SPENDING money on things you don't need is sometimes just as big as selling your stuff. So I'm not buying any new clothes for a long time. I don't need them! AND, although I don't have a job right now and am not particularly abounding in funds, I do want to be generous with what God has given me. So I'm working on that.


Here's my new closet...about 7 shirts and 7 pairs of pants. More than what I need!

The way I see it, the less I have, the harder it will be to get attached to "stuff." While my eyes are being opened to the needs of the impoverished around the world, getting rid of my clothes was less about serving the poor and more about me selfishly wanting to know Christ better (thus getting the obstacles out of the way). I pray that God continues to teach me about serving the poor and what that should look like in my life. I want to live my days pursuing ETERNAL treasure, not earthly possessions. I have to be honest though...I STILL waste money. I am in this with you! I am learning what it means to love God WHOLEHEARTEDLY in new ways every day. I hope you join me...it's an exciting journey!

Will you share your experience this week with the rest of us?

FAITHdare #8: I've Got Stuff, You've Got Stuff

FAITHdare #8:
Go, sell everything you own, and give it to the poor.

When you read those words, what went through your head? Were you shocked? Maybe somewhat appalled that I would have the audacity to tell you to do something so crazy? Did your mind immediately start to tally up the things you would be WILLING to give away?

Did you automatically assume it was a joke, or a test, or some ploy on my part?

What if it isn't a ploy? What if Jesus looked you in the eye and said those very words to you today? Would you walk away sad, knowing you could never do what He asked? Or would you leave everything in obedience to a God who demands your total allegiance in every area of life?

In a culture gorging on materialism, we, as followers of Christ, choose to believe that all of our stuff is one blessing upon another from God. Don't get me wrong..."all good things come from above" (James 1:17). But I can't help but wonder if all of our stuff is just another barrier, another block stacked on the wall that threatens to separate us from the God who longs to know us intimately. What would happen if all you or I had was the Word of God? Don't you think our need for Christ would be purified? Don't you think our hungry bellies and empty hands would be a constant reminder of our emptiness without Christ? Don't you think our need for Him would be clearer, and our dependence on Him would be greater?

I am the first to admit that I sometimes turn to stuff to satisfy deep longings and hurts that only Jesus can truly satisfy. What if that option was taken away? What if we abandoned the mindset of this culture in which heartache is reason enough to empty our pocketbooks?

Are we really living all that differently from the lost around us? We spend money and they spend money. We buy houses and they buy houses. We wear beautiful clothes and they wear beautiful clothes. We decorate and they decorate. We drive nice cars and they drive nice cars. We bury our sorrows in stuff and they bury their sorrows in stuff. Only difference is...we tack Jesus on the end. We SAY we need Him more than any possession. Do you think they really believe us? Do we really believe ourselves? Can we honestly say we are living for another world while we buy and hoard stuff here? Can we claim the name of Jesus and choose to remain ignorant to the desperate poverty of billions of people around the world?

The Word of God is STREWN with passages on the dangers of wealth. And none of us can really get out of this one (unless you live on less than $2/day), because we are all wealthy compared to the standards of the world. In my opinion, we all need to take a step back and SERIOUSLY examine where we have allowed material wealth and possessions to crowd our view of eternity, to crowd out our witness to others, to crowd out our deep need for relationship with Christ.

Is any of your STUFF an idol? Here's a good barometer to measure by: Do you have anything that you would be hesitant to give up?

As I have done the past three weeks, I am going to list a couple of scripture passages for you to consider this week as you seek the heart of God on this matter. However, there is NO WAY I can even begin to cover every place in God's Word where material possessions are discussed, so I would also like to suggest that you take it upon yourself to do some intentional study this week on your own in relation to this topic. And maybe you need to examine your budget, or your accumulation of stuff. Please heed the call of the Spirit on this one. Later on down the FAITHdare road, we will be looking at our possessions from many different angles, but I pray that the Spirit begins to stir in hearts right now, revealing ways in which we have allowed things to take precedent over obedience to Him.

FAITHdare #8:
Is your relationship to your stuff idolatrous in any way? Seek the heart of God, and heed the voice of the Spirit.

Suggested scripture passages (go beyond this list!)

Luke 18:18-30
Mark 10:17-31
Psalm 49
Luke 21:1-4
2 Cor. 8-9
Luke 12:13-21
Luke 16:19-31
1 Timothy 6:3-10
Matthew 25:14-46