“for my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”  Jeremiah 2:13 ESV

Did you know you can drink too much water?  It’s true; at least a quick google search says it is.  It is called water intoxication, and apparently the results are very similar to regular intoxication.  Hard to imagine.  Water is such a good thing.  The good news is this condition is fairly uncommon, and, unlike regular intoxication, takes a good bit of effort.   In other words most of us will beeline it to the bathroom before we hit the water too hard.

For the most part we have the opposite problem with water.  Sometimes it can be hard to get enough.  And then you end up thirsty.  Which is, in my opinion, one of the worst feelings in the world.  If you have ever been really thirsty you know what I’m talking about.  Your mouth gets dry, your lips start to chap, your throat is scratchy, and you just feel run down.  It doesn’t take long before water is all you can think about.  Water is important.

If you have any doubts, ask Bear Grylls, survival expert and TV host.  He hosted a show called Man vs Wild, which really should have been called “Man Finding Water”.  In each episode he is dropped in some remote location and shows viewers how to survive should they find themselves stranded in the mountains of Paraguay or some other far off place.  We watch eagerly because, if we ever leave the couch, we may, one day, go to Paraguay and find ourselves stranded.  But no matter where he is the biggest key to survival is always finding water, some way, some how.

And he comes up with some pretty, let’s say, interesting ways of doing it.  Filtering dung, collecting ocean water after it has condensed, distilling urine are just a few.  Now I know your thinking, disgusting.  If you are not you may want to talk to somebody.  But if there is no water, and it is the difference between life and death people will do some amazing, weird, and incredible things.

However, if you are standing next to stream of pure, filtered mountain water; the stuff they bottle and sell for $4 a pop and you start drinking filtered dung, people are going to wonder about you.

But this is exactly what is happening in Jeremiah, at least figuratively.  God was providing for his people, he was like a stream of living water.  And they chose to walk away from him and drink dirty, stale, rainwater, that collected in holes in the ground.  Holes, with holes in them so they really only held a tiny trickle.  Can you picture it?  People are trying to suck the last bit of water out of a dirty pit while standing next to a stream of the best fresh water on earth.

So what was God’s point?  The people had stopped worshipping him, the one who could supply their every need perfectly.  They were worshipping idols, hoping they would provide for them and make them happy.  Idols who could offer them nothing.  This was God’s way of illustrating just how dumb this is.  You have chosen to walk away from the stream to drink from the mud.

It seems pretty obvious when you put it like that.  But idols have this way of creeping into our lives without us even noticing.  We may not make little “temples” for our idols.  But we do dig out space for them.  We cut our space for them in our schedules, our budgets, our focus, our passions, and our priorities.

How about you.  Have you been settling for less than pure water?  Is there some longing in your life you are trying to fill apart from God?  What are your idols?

Yes, you heard me, what are you giving?  I really want to know.  The last few weeks I’ve been writing about giving and being generous.  This week we wrap up, but I want to know what you are giving to God?

I couldn’t talk about giving and generosity and not mention Malachi 3:10.  It says “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.  And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” (ESV)

Give and get a blessing sounds like a pretty good deal.  But the circumstances surrounding this verse aren’t so sweet.

God is speaking to Israel.  As a nation they had gotten slack in offering sacrifices to God.  He had instructed them to bring animal sacrifices; the best of the herds.  Instead they had started to bring the lame and the blind animals from the herds.  These animals were useless, yet they brought them to God as a sacrifice.  And true to his word, God quit blessing them because they did not obey him.  A drought settled into the land. And the people had no idea why.  They were clueless why God would not send rain, after all they were sacrificing like he asked.

So the only logical thing they could think to do was to take care of themselves.  Not knowing when the drought would end, or how much surplus they would need they did the only logical thing and quit sacrificing altogether.  I mean you never know when you are going to need an extra goat, even if he is blind.  Plus it’s not like God was upholding his end of the deal anyway.

It was into this chaotic mess of greed, selfishness, apathy, and cluelessness that God spoke Malachi 3:10.  It was a reminder.  What we give to God, being generous, matters.

So I ask, what are you giving?  Are you giving anything?  Have you decided like Israel did that there is not enough time, money, or stuff to go around in your life?  There is just no way you could be generous right now.  Are you giving the useless parts of your life to God, like the lame and blind animals?  Offering him the time when you are least focused.  Giving only the leftovers financially, if there are any.  Offering him physical presence at worship but no real engagement.

If you are, will you start being generous with the best you have this week?

You run into it everyday.  There are things you have to do and things you get to do.  I know some people like to turn all the have to’s into get to’s but it never works out for me. For example, today I have to clean the house.  And this weekend I have to mow the lawn.  Tonight though, I get to go on a date with my wife.  No matter what kind of positive spin you try to put on it, nothing is going to move cleaning and mowing into the same category as date night.  It doesn’t work like that.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the lawn and house I have.  I will mow and clean without whining about it.  But these are things I never feel like doing.  I simply do them because they need done.

Last week I said being generous was about having the right perspective.  What is your perspective on generosity?  Is it a get to or a have to?  Is it something you feel like doing, or something you just have to take care of, if you do it at all?

If you read Acts 4:36-5:11 you will two stories of giving.  One came from a desire, the other from an obligation.  Barnabas sold a field and gave the money to those in need.  Why?  Apparently, like so many others were doing, he wanted to help.  Ananias and Sapphira also sold a field and gave the money to those in need.  Why?  It seems they either wanted to be seen as spiritual, or were afraid they would be seen as unspiritual if they didn’t, or because they were just greedy.  Either way they did it because they felt like they had to.

See the difference.  When we give out of obligation it is cold, measured, and calculating.  We ask “how little can I get by with?”  That isn’t generosity at all.  Only when we give because we have a desire to meet a need, fill a void, provide for someone, do we start to be generous.

So how do we go from have to to get to?  Think about this.  The whole earth is the Lord’s; but just like in the book of Acts, God has chosen to entrust parts of it, the stuff we have, to us.  He could use any method he wanted to meet the needs of the world.  And, just like in the early church, he has chosen to use us, his church, to be His hands and feet around the world.  Why be generous?  Why give away our stuff, time, and money?  Because God has chosen us to impact the world.  He wants to use us to build His kingdom.  I don’t understand why, but I know I am excited to be apart of it.  Which makes being generous something I get to do.

I like to people watch.  I pause before sharing this bit of information because the best people watching is at the mall.  So, by default, in admitting I like to people watch I am also conceding that I don’t mind going to the mall, sometimes.  I know as a guy I’m supposed to loath the mall, but hey, you go where the people are. 

I think most people like to people watch.  This is why reality TV is so popular.  Someone caught on to this great past time and decided to try to bring it primetime.  While I applaud the effort, they missed the point.  When people watching, every moment isn’t action packed.  Most people who walk by are normal, boring, and mundane.  This is why the odd, eccentric and spectacular stick out so much.  It is about patience as much as anything.  Meanwhile reality TV feels the need to pack every moment with the odd, eccentric, and spectacular and so they resort to desperate displays of desperation or worse scripting “reality.”

I have a great idea for a reality show, “Mall Cam.”  Just park a camera on mall bench and hit record.  This way I could have all the joys of the best people watching without actually having to go to the mall (see I recovered a little bit of manhood there).  Plus, I get the added benefit of being able to sit on my own couch at home.  

I’ve digressed.  The point is even Jesus engaged in some people watching.  Mark 12:41 records that Jesus “sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box.” (ESV italics mine)

But just watching is not the point.  There has to be something worth seeing.  And Jesus took what he saw that day and used it to teach a really important lesson.

What he saw was a lot of very religious and very wealthy people giving money at the Temple.  This was part of their worship, it was something they were supposed to do.  And they were doing it well.  Mark records many of them “put in large sums.”  Then something out of place happened.  And like any people watching, this is where it got good.  A poor widow comes by and drops in 2 copper coins, which maybe added up to a penny.  

Jesus points her out to his disciples (people watching is always better when you have someone to share it with).  He tells them this widow gave more than anyone else.  No Jesus is not bad at math.  He goes on to explain how all the others gave out of their abundance.  However, this widow gave out of poverty, she gave all she had to live on.  

These wealthy people were doing what God asked.  They were giving, and it was even large gifts.  Yet Jesus wasn’t impressed with their gift.  I think the reason is the way they view their possessions.

You see the rich people coming by were also religious.  Obeying God was important to them.  So if he said to give they gave.  If he said to give 10 percent (the OT command) they did, even if 10% was an enormous sum.  I think a bigger reason they were willing to give was because it was easy.  They were wealthy.  Giving 10% away made them look good and they weren’t going to be hurting or wanting for anything at the end of the day because of it.  There homes were not in jeopardy because they gave.  They weren’t going to have to give up anything they enjoyed after giving to God.  God got his share and then they resumed the business of taking care of themselves, and making themselves comfortable.

The widow was different though.  She came and gave everything.  She could have given one coin, and kept the other to buy a little food.  But she didn’t.  She gave them both.  Why?  She understood Psalm 24 “The earth is the Lord’s”.  All of it, not just the trees, and grass, fields, and mountains, but our money, our cars, our houses.  They all really belong to God.  She got it.  And so she gave sacrificially.  She trusted God to provide for her, after all he owns the whole earth.

So how do we approach giving?  Is your first response to cringe?  Maybe you grow cynical and say “see, churches just want my money!”  There is more to it though.  When we fail to be generous with what God has given us, we lose sight of whose stuff it really is.  Then we start thinking it is actually ours, and we start living to protect it, and get more of it.  And if you have ever lived in that place you know the stress, anxiety, and worry that comes with it.

So being generous isn’t just about churches or religious groups wanting your money.  God doesn’t need it.  He already owns its.  Being generous is about keeping our perspective straight.  It reminds us who God is, and who we are, and just how much we really do need him.  More on that in the next few weeks.

“Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist.”  - Proverbs 23:4

Remember Scrooge McDuck?  The multi-billionaire, no pants-wearing cartoon duck whose favorite past time was literally swimming in his money?  Now there is a dude who toiled to acquire wealth.  He heaped it up so he could literally just roll around in it.

I don’t think most of us keep large hoards of cash just so we have something to ski on.  Though after last winter it may be a good (and cheaper) alternative to snow skiing.

However, work is a part of our lives.  Work takes most of our time.  Many of us work 50+ hours a week.  We definitely toil.  And that is not always a bad thing.  God created work before the fall.  It is part of what he intended for us.  What this proverb is asking us to look at is not if work is good or bad.  It is asking us to examine why do we work?

The standard answer is I work to provide for my family.  There is nothing wrong with that.  Working hard to make sure our families have food to eat, clothes to wear, and a place to sleep is important and God-honoring.  

However, we have to ask ourselves, do we know when to desist?  If we are not careful a good thing can become a toxic thing.  We can easily fall into the trap of working more and more in the name of providing for our families.  When, in reality, we are doing little more than piling up wealth.  

This happens when we start always pursuing bigger and better.  Putting a roof over our families head is good, and pleases God.  So we think the bigger the roof the more pleasing it must be.  Not so.  How well you provide for your family is not measured by the square footage of your house, how extravagant a vacation you plan, or how luxurious a car drives the kids to soccer practice.

But I only want the best for my family.  I think we all do.  Where we miss is in our understanding of the best.  What we mean is the best things.  However, things don’t make us good providers.  There is a difference between how we define best and what God calls best.  

The best things don’t make the best families.  What if providing for our families meant more than materials things?  What if it included teaching about service, sacrifice, and giving?  What would it look like if being a good provider meant helping our children discover their passions and find their place in God’s kingdom?  We would have to be discerning enough to desist!  We would have to know when to say enough to material things in order to have time to provide in other areas.  Striving for more constantly does more than make us greedy, it keeps us from being the people God wants us to be.

C.S. Lewis says it perfectly in Mere Christianity “There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charities expenditure excludes them.”

How about you?  Where are you just chasing after more stuff?  Is it keeping you from seeing or living out God’s purpose for you?  

We are just a few days away from Easter.  Many people are reading and following along with the events of the last week of Christ’s life.  If you are looking for somewhere to read about the final few days click here.

Early in the week, though, Jesus tells a parable about a man and his vineyard (read it here).

A man planted a vineyard.  And not just any vineyard, it was a magnificent vineyard.  He placed it on the best ground.  He put a good fence around it to protect.  He built a tower in it for added security and to watch over the vines.  He even put a winepress in it to process and enjoy the fruit of the field.  And then he planted the best grapes available in that vineyard.  It must have been a master piece.  Any who saw it would have been envious of it.

Then the master left the country.  He leased his vineyard out to some tenants while he was gone.  It doesn’t say what the arrangement of the lease was.  Obviously they were charged with keeping the vineyard, and when the harvest came the owner sent his servants to collect his portion of the harvest.

The tenants though have decided they like the vineyard, so much they so they want it for their own.  They beat and kill the servants the owner sends.  And so he sends more. They treat these the same way.

Finally, the owner sends his own son, hoping these tenants may listen to him.  Instead they see an opportunity to seize the vineyard as their own, once and for all.  They kill the son, the heir, thinking it will finally make their point.

Jesus tells this story to some of the most religious Jews of his day.  If you read on you know they fully understand he is referencing them as the evil tenants.  God had given them every advantage.  He had tried to reveal his plan to them through the prophets.  But all they wanted to do was claim what he had given them as their own.  They were more in love with the vineyard than the one who made it.  In just a few days, Jesus would live this parable out as the religious leaders would turn him over to the Romans to be crucified.

And still this parable has incredible depth and meaning for those of us who follow Jesus.  My vineyard, my life, and everything I have, come from God.  They are his.  Yet so many times I want to act like they are my own.  I want to pretend that something I am only leasing out really belongs to me.  Maybe because I think I deserve it or because I don’t like my life the way it is, I think if I can take control I can fix what he designed.  Either way I rebel and turn my back on him.  That is what all sin is.  And Jesus died for sin.

So, ultimately I killed Jesus, and so did you.  It wasn’t because of hypocritical Jewish leaders, or cowardly Roman rulers that Jesus went to the cross.  It was because we sin.  We try to take what is God’s for our own.  And when we do we are just like the tenants in the story.  That is what sent him to the cross.  That and the fact that in spite of how awfully we had treated him, God still loved us, with a perfect, never-ending love!

That is not a pleasant thought and so it is one we don’t talk about very often.  And that is exactly why before we come to Easter and the joy of the resurrection we need to stop, reflect, remember, and confess.

“This is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sin.” 1 John 4:10

“If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  1 John 1:9

In Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus tells a parable about a man going on a long trip.  He was wealthy and wanted to make sure his estate would be looked after while he is gone.  So he leaves portions of his wealth with his servants.  He gives a fairly large portion of it to one servant, another good sized portion to another one, and a remaining, albeit, smaller portion to a third, according to what they could handle..  Then he leaves.  The first two servants take off and immediately go to work, and each doubles the money he was given.  When the master returns they present the original sum, and the earnings to him, and of course he is very pleased.  He places them in charge of those portions of his estate.

The third servant though did nothing with his money.  He took it and hid it away safely and when the master returned he presented what belonged to him, back to him.  And the master was very upset with this.  He can’t imagine why the servant would do absolutely nothing with what was given to him.  He takes even the small amount away from him and gives it the servant who had been given the most.

All three of these servants were faithful and obedient to their master.  They had to be or they wouldn’t have been given his money in the first place.  Yet, he only seems pleased with two of them.  

I have always struggled when I read this.  It seems like the third guy gets a raw deal.  I mean after all he did everything the master asked.  He was an obedient and faithful servant.  And when he was entrusted with the master’s money was faithful to make sure nothing happened to it.  So why the harsh words?

He missed the point.  The master wanted more than just faithful and obedient from these three.  He wanted initiative.  He had given them a special task.  Two of them followed through on it.  The third one missed it.  This didn’t make him any less faithful or obedient.  

He was paralyzed with fear of failing.  What if he should lose his master’s money?  Who is he to know how to invest?  What if the market crashes?  What if someone steals it?  And so he did nothing and when the master returns he presents his money to him and says “here is what is yours.  I was obedient and faithful.  See I didn’t screw up.” (author’s paraphrase).

Now I read this story and it seems pretty obvious.  Jesus is the master and we are the servants.  He has gone away, but is returning one day.  We have been entrusted with a mission and purpose to live out, and given gifts and abilities to help us.

I also like to think I am like the first servant, or, at the very least, the second one.  The truth is though, more often than not most of us can end up being more like the third servant.

As Christians it easy for us to become consumed with things to do and not to do.  We make sure we go to church weekly, tithe, and we try to read our Bibles.  We make sure we don’t cheat, steal, or murder, and we try not to lie, too much.  We give a few extra dollars to charity at Christmas, and we don’t sleep around.  We are obedient and faithful to these things.  After a while we can start to think all of this makes us good Christians.  But at the end of the day we are saying the same thing that the third servant did, “Look God, I didn’t screw up!  Aren’t you proud?”  

But God has bigger things in store for us.  He wants more for us.  Doing, or not doing, all those things and more, is important, it is about obedience.  But that is not all following Jesus is about.  In fact it is just the starting point.  Obedient servants are called to take care of the estate.  God is calling you and me to the same thing.  He has you here for a reason, and it is bigger than just being able to say at the end of your life, “Phew, I made it, and look God, I didn’t mess up.”

What things is God calling you to do to help build his kingdom?  What things, when you see them or think about them, upset you, anger you, and make it hard for you to think about anything else?  Remember, they are usually the things that scare us to death and look like we could really fail at!

“But that’s not fair!”  This is a familiar phrase to any parent, teacher, and anyone else who has spent more than about 2 minutes around kids.  You’ve heard it and you know the tone it’s said in.  It is whining.  In fact I don’t think you can say the phrase without a whiny tone.  It is the ultimate example of complaining.  And you know the response.  ”Life’s not fair.”

If the first statement is the ultimate in whining, that reply may very well be the ultimate in indifference.  You might as well have said “Oh, are you upset?  I’m sorry.  Here let me get you a straw, so you can suck it up.”

We don’t like inequality feeling cheated.  We want to make it sound like we are concerned with justice and fairness; but honestly we really only say “but that’s not fair” when things aren’t working out in our favor.

I remember hearing those 3 dreaded words in response to my own whining as a kid.  ”Life’s not fair.”  I was always tempted to reply with something like “Well, that doesn’t mean we can’t do our part to make it better.  And what better place to start than right here, right now, with my issue.”  I never did say anything though.  I figured if someone was that indifferent to justice my issue, they would probably not appreciate back talk either.

Looking back though I see how self-centered that was.  I know it sounds noble getting everyone doing their part to work towards ending injustice.  But, really? With all the issues in the world, from kids going hungry, war, slavery etc. the best place I could find to start as with the fact that Timmy got a bigger piece of cake than me?  I should have seen that justice wasn’t what I was focused on.  My concern was for myself.  I wasn’t upset that the pieces weren’t the same size, I was upset I didn’t get the big piece.

In Matthew 20 Jesus tells a story about some people in a similar situation.  A man owned a vineyard and needed some people to work it.  He went out, found some people, and agreed to pay them a fair wage for the day.  They went to work.  As they day goes on the owner continues to hire people to work, agreeing to pay them a fair rate.  He even hires a group of workers with only one hour left in the work day.  When the day closes he calls all the workers to pay them, starting with those hired last.  And a funny thing happens.  He pays those who only worked an hour the same rate he agreed to pay those he hired in the morning.

So obviously, those who were hired first figure they will be getting more, a bonus of sorts.  But when they are paid they find they received exactly the same as those hired last.  And they cry out “but that’s not fair.”  They worked all day and got the same pay as those who only worked an hour!  How can that be?  The owner responds, and tells them; actually it is fair.  He paid them exactly what they agreed to.  If he chooses to be generous with others, that is up to him.  After all it is his money; he can do what he likes with it.  

When I think about it, those complaining workers weren’t concerned about justice.  They were upset because, well, they didn’t get the biggest piece of cake.  They were obsessed with looking out for their own needs and best interest.

And so, Jesus reminds us, that the last will be first, and the first will be last.  That is, we need to learn to think and live differently; backwards to what we know.  Instead of being obsessed with our needs and looking out for our own interests, we are called to put the needs of others first, and to live generously.  This is bigger than making share everyone gets “their fair share.”  This is about making sure there is a big piece of cake, and then making sure someone else gets it.  Someone overlooked and in need.  What is even crazy is when we do this, and make ourselves less, Jesus says we have achieved true greatness.  We are first in his eyes.

I find it funny how, when we talk of forgiveness, we tend to think first, and sometimes exclusively, of the people we need to forgive.  We are quick to remember the people, times, and situations that have hurt us.  We hold on to those things, and when forgiveness is mentioned we realize, perhaps we should let them go.  Of course that is easier said than done.

But maybe if, when we talk of forgiveness, we also remember the people, times, and situations when we have hurt others, we would find it easier to forgive.  It seems that we prefer to focus on what has been done to us, and who we need to forgive, rather than our own actions and who we need to seek forgiveness from.  I don’t have any statistics to support that, just my observation.  But since 73% of all statistics are made up I’m not sure how valuable they would be anyway.

All of that to say that forgiveness is about dealing with hurt.  It is no surprise that the world is full of very real pain, wrong-doing, sadness, injustice, and inequality.  And when we encounter these, weather as the cause or the recipient, forgiveness is needed.

In Matthew 18:23-35 Jesus talked about forgiveness.  He tells a story about a king who decided to balance his books.  When he did he found he had a certain servant that owed him millions of dollars.  I’m not entirely sure how you end up owing a king millions of dollars, but I imagine it involves some kind of embezzlement or some super spy/kung fu moves to break in and rob the royal vault.  While the latter is more exciting, embezzlement is more likely.  Either way, the servant is brought to the king and he demands payment.  Obviously the servant is not able to do that.  They used gold and silver coins, no one could carry millions of dollars, it would weigh a ton.

The king is going to sell the servant, and his family into slavery to regain what he can.  I know that sounds harsh, but when it comes to being wronged many of us do the same thing.  He was cutting his loses.  And that is how we often respond to hurt.  It may not be as extreme as throwing someone into slavery, but we write people off.  We say they hurt me, so I’m done with them.  I will never speak to them, or deal with them, or let them be close to me again.  That way they can never hurt me again.  We may not announce it to the whole playground (that would be childish), but in our hearts we know its true.  That is certainly one way to deal with forgiveness.

But the servant asked for mercy.  He asked for more time to pay the debt.  Realistically, he could never pay it.  Yet the king could have taken his deal.  He could have said fine, take another 6 months, and pay me what you can.  If he failed to pay it all, the king would have whatever he did pay and could still sell him as a slave at the end of 6 months.  Surprisingly, I think this is how most people offer forgiveness.  We forgive with a “but”.    We say things like, I’ll forgive him, but if he ever does it again…or I’ll forgive her, but I’ll be watching her…or I can forgive them, but I’ll never trust them in that area again.

This is not real forgiveness.  In fact it may be worse than cutting your loses.  At least there we just cut someone off.  Here we keep the person close, but put them under a microscope where we constantly critique and judge them, waiting for another mistake.  We live to constantly remind them of the hurt they caused.

Thankfully that is not what the king did.  Rather than take the deal he amended it.  Nothing needed to be paid back.  He forgave from the heart.  And that is what true forgiveness is.  True forgiveness absorbs the hurt, takes the loss, and suffers the damage done.  It refuses to pass it on to others.  Instead it accepts it and lets it go.

This is not to say the hurt isn’t real.  A million dollar loss is nothing to sneeze at.  But the king endured it in order to show mercy and love.

How about you?  I’m sure there are some very real hurts in your life.  Are you keeping those responsible on the hook, or can you truly forgive?  It may mean taking a loss, even a big loss.  But if you read the end of the story you know, 1.  that is what God has already done for us, and 2. we really want others to do the same for us.

I recently had to renew my insurance policy.  One more bill to pay is never fun.  But this time I also had to review my renters insurance and make sure it was still adequate.  So I started walking through the house, doing my best to remember, guess, and otherwise estimate what it would cost to replace the items in each room.  

It gave me a lot of insight and started a lot of thoughts.  I could write about quite a few different things after that.  The one thought I kept having the most though was this; “would I really be upset if I lost that?”  With the exception of a few personal items and family photos, my answer was no.  Honestly, I was feeling pretty good about myself with that one.  Until I gave it some more thought.  I realized the reason I wouldn’t be upset about losing most of this stuff is because I knew it would all be replaced with new stuff.

Suddenly I felt better about paying the insurance bill, and worse about myself.  Just as I was starting to think I’m not really all that attached to material stuff I learn that in fact I’m just not that attached my current stuff.  Apparently I sell out for much less, it doesn’t have to be my stuff, just so long as I have stuff, I’m happy.  Sad, I know.

The thought of truly giving up everything is overwhelming.  And it is what Jesus calls us to if we are going to follow him.  My response to this?  ”Sigh, ok, Jesus, if you say so.  I will do my best to give up my claim to everything for you, but I really don’t know if I like the idea very much.  Never the less, I will try to find the strength, by your grace, to grin and bear it.”  Again, sad, I know.

But I was recently reminded of just how true that attitude can be in my heart.  Myself and many of the students at TRIB3 are currently participating in Lent together.  So I am on a hiatus from Starbucks.  I don’t share that to make you think more of me, Lent doesn’t make me any holier.  In fact, this will probably do the opposite of that, but the story won’t make sense without knowing that for 40 days I am Starbucks free.  If you know me, you know that’s a big deal.  So for the past 2 weeks every time I would normally go to Starbucks, or I think about coffee, or breathe, I have been reminded.  And I sigh.  ”Ok Jesus, I guess you sacrificed for me, I can make a sacrifice for you, but it’s hard.”  Starbucks is hard, and Jesus wants everything!?! How will I ever do this?

And then I started to get ready to teach the parable of the Pearl of Great Price in Matthew 13:45-46.  And God reminded me of something I needed to hear; the reason the merchant sold everything.  The pearl was worth it, and that made the sacrifice a joy.

Could it be that I value stuff, coffee, and comfort more than my saviour?  Apparently.  I had started treating faith and following Jesus as a duty or an obligation.  Something to be endured with a certain stoicism.  How sad is that?

The truth is Jesus did more than just make a sacrifice for me.  He did the exact thing the merchant in the parable did.  Long before he called me to give up everything to follow him, he gave up everything so that I could.  He “though he was in the form of God did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  - Philippians 2:6-8.

There is so much joy in losing everything with Jesus.  His sacrifice offers grace, forgiveness, love, and acceptance that makes any sacrifice I make an easy one.  How about you?  Have you ever found yourself sacrificing or living for Jesus out of obligation rather than joy?  Share in the comments.