Earlier this week I carried some clean t-shirts to my chest of drawers and stuffed them into the drawer grunting as I struggled to close the drawer, and thinking to myself, how can it be that I have no room for the shirts that I wear? Whats in this drawer?
It had been a few days before that I had been stumbling around Matthew and I read this exchange between Jesus and potential follower. Its sort of goes like this.
57As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
58Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Luke 9:57-59 (New International Version)
I have been thinking a lot about this exchange, and my t-shirts and the whole idea that Jesus calls us to live a radical crazy life that is different from the frustrations of this world. Yesterday, I mentioned that my mind is trying to work out a few thoughts, and I think that they will come out over the next few days.
So with all of that in mind, Monday night, I stumbled on this BBC article about a guy who has created a Cult of Less. Essentially, this guy has sold almost everything except a bare amount of clothing and his electronics and lives with his “digital possessions”. The sub title of the article is “living out of a hard drive”. He is not the first person to try this of course, but what I think is interesting is how he describes the freedom he has with minimal material things.
hm, this sounds awful familiar. Almost like some bible stories I have heard since I was an infant. Things like
20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:20-22 (New International Version)
and this
33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Luke 12:33-35 (New International Version)
I don’t know this guys motivation, nor will I question it. But I do know that as a follower of the Christ, I have been provided with a motivation, or maybe a command, er, non optional requirement, er strong suggestion?
So today, I am not completely suggesting that you sell everything and live out of a hard drive. I think there is some certain amount of reasonableness that needs to be checked. However, this is the beginning of at least a personal challenge to take a look at my view on material things. Why do I have them? why do I need them? What things should I be letting go? And what real attachment should I even have to any of it? And that might just be the key. Not the having, but the have to have or the attachment. Comments?
Use your stuff today as a tool to express where your treasure really is.
