As I often see on the cardboard signs held up by people begging at the ends of interstate off-ramps, "Anything helps," the same is true in the macrocosm, such as this call to action promoted by Jeff Goins.I suppose I can go to the jeweler’s and have them cut off my gold wedding band (my finger has grown too large to get it off, even with soap), sell the gold, and turn in the money to the poor. Better yet, I could sell anything I have that is just an expensive hobby or valuable investment. Who cares about what or who will support me when I am retired? God cares. He will provide.
Basically, I'm a pretty simple person. My "carbon footprint" is more like a hoof print, not very large.
My house looks spacious and empty compared to most others' because I have only the furnishings that are necessary to offer basic hospitality. My electric bill even in winter is under $25 a month. I have a computer, but I don't have TV or any but the most basic appliances, a fridge, a range, a micro-wave. My door is always unlocked when I'm home, and any number of people know they are welcome here. Some just open the door and let out a "Hello! Anyone home?" and if I'm upstairs in my room, I shout back "Come in! Welcome!" as I descend the stairs to meet them.
Saint Basil the Great says, "We are all deceived." That's what came to mind when I read the opening line of this post by a fellow Christian, "it’s only the space between us that allows [us] to hold on to our delusions that the world makes sense." This is the same Church Father who also wrote, "Property is theft."
Yet, we go on living as if we were here for our own benefit, our own enjoyment. The truth is, and I speak for myself, I am willing to be selfless, welcoming, loving and generous to people whom I like. True, I like everyone I meet at first, and only when they have proven themselves difficult to deal with do I write them off, and avoid them. Such are the ways of the fleshly man, proving that though I claim to be "already dead," I am not dead yet.
The struggle goes on, day by day.
Don't fault yourself for your $5 mocha, brother, especially if you are buying it to share moments with a friend. To be with even one friend is to be with Jesus, who says, "the disciples do not fast when the bridegroom is with them" (cf. Mark 2:19). As for living a wasteful lifestyle, Christ has set us free from that, as well as from all our sins, in the Resurrection.
If you live with Jesus, without guilt-tripping yourself into obedience you can attain a lifestyle that is pleasing to Him. How? By knowing that He is with you, not by imagining what He would do or want you to do, and then trying to do it, but by simply doing what you see Him doing. Another way of saying this is, since you and Christ are one, let Him do in you and through you what He always does. Let Him be your practical righteousness, not just your theoretical righteousness.
Remember, Christ is all and in all. He may be asleep in your boat, so in the stormy sea that engulfs your life, cry out to Him, "Lord, save me, I am going down!"
He is faithful. He will do as you ask.
6 comments:
very good to hear this! "By knowing that He is with you, not by imagining what He would do or want you to do, and then trying to do it, but by simply doing what you see Him doing. Another way of saying this is, since you and Christ are one, let Him do in you and through you what He always does. Let Him be your practical righteousness, not just your theoretical righteousness". Emet! Ameyn!
Yes, Yudikris has spotted the vibrant heart of this post. I will admit, though, that I'm uneasy that you've mentioned your open-door policy this publicly.
If Yahweh does not build the house,
in vain the builders toil;
if Yahweh does not guard the city,
in vain the sentries watch.
Psalm 127
When no one is at home, Jim, the doors are securely locked, as everywhere in America. When I am home, the outer door is unbolted, so my guests do not have to rouse me (sometimes I would not hear them, as I have no door bell—they must knock and very hard). I live in a small cluster of houses where I know my neighbors. As an item of last resort, I have two Japanese swords hidden where only I can reach them, and one is so sharp it can probably split a hair, and I know how to use them.
But the best defense, my friend, is the Word of God, in which I have made my home. That's why the door can be left open.
To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of Him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open.
Revelation 3:7
Good response, my brother. I remember that when living with 5 or 6 other guys in a seminary apartment, we didn't lock our door except maybe at vacation time. We had pretty good neighbors. Carl F. H. Henry and his wife lived under us. I respected him for his reputation and for his tender treatment of his wife, though I couldn't understand his lectures unless I translated them into simple English.
Wow! You personally knew Carl F. H. Henry! What seminary was it? He was a great scholar for responsible evangelical Christianity. May his memory be eternal.
This was at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois. I barely knew the Henrys, though they lived under us. The former resident of our apartment (whom I don't think I ever saw or met) was John Stott. Having been near many Christians of noted reputation was a blessing, but we're neither saved nor sanctified by being near such people.
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