Yeah, right.
- My family
- My clothes
- My toys
- My crafts
- My photography business
- My time
- My money
- My comfort
- My plans
- My reputation
- My pretty things
- My friends
- My thoughts
- My books
- My actions
- My love
- . . . . . . .
- And the list goes on.
My this, my that, my other thing. Sure, it's a good way to distinguish which specific things you are talking about because if you don't clarify somehow no one will know what you are speaking of.
But thoughts interrupted my reading, as they tend to do, and I was sidetracked by the question of, What if I were to make a list of all the things that I call my own, and as I go down that list simply promise it all to God. It doesn't really matter if I do it verbally or if I actually write it out; my word is as strong spoken or signed. As I thought about it, I realized that though I certainly have given most of what I have to God, there are things I would have a hard time granting him ownership of.
Family, sure. Clothes, toys, crafts, yeah. I gave him all of that the other day. Next on the list is my photography. Ouch. No, God, not that. If I make money from that I want to have it to spend on me. That's my spending money.
Yeah....not the best argument to try to win. Honestly, it's not like I have made much off of my photography anyway. I think a total of $150 is what it comes out to. But I am not willing to let him have that?
Alright. God, you can have my photography. Anything that comes from it, I will use to further your kingdom. If you bless it, it will be used to bless you, and if you do not bless it, I will still use it to bless you. You can have it. I give up.
The rest of the list is all his. Time, money, comfort, plans, reputation, pretty things, friends, thoughts, books, actions, love. God, you can have it. I am living for you.
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. . . he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt."
-Luke 9:2-3
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
-Mark 12:30-31
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’"
-Matthew 25:40
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- Take nothing but the cloak on your back-no sandals, no staff, no purse, no extra tunic
- Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself
- Whatever you do for the least of these you did unto me
The themes from these three verses have really been getting at me recently.
See, Jesus sent his disciples out with nothing. Why? Because he is their provider. He is our provider. He is my provider. There's something I can claim. Mine (: My Jesus. Back to business though, he told them to take nothing with them so that they would know that He was the reason that they were doing this. He was the reason they were fed, sheltered, clothed. If they lacked any of these things, then I guess they didn't really need it then.
We are sent out to love our neighbor. as . much . as . we love ourselves. We water it down, but honestly, doesn't this mean that if we see someone hungry we should get them food as readily as we would go and buy a sandwich for our own lunch? If we see someone without a home, wouldn't we then invite them in and give them a place to rest, if only for a night? If we took this seriously, then we wouldn't see people out on the street and pass them by--we would relate to the person shivering in the street saying, if that was me, I'd have already gone and bought a coat. And then we would do it!
And when we do this, Jesus says something that should convict us even more than what I wrote above. Anything we did for one of the least of these, we did for him. When we fed someone, offered a bed, or bought a coat for someone who needed it, we did that thing for Jesus! And any time we saw someone hungry or thirsty, naked, or sick, or in prison and we did not care for them, this we didn't do for Jesus. When we didn't help them, we ignored our God, our Savior, our Provider. The Jesus I just claimed as "mine" is the Jesus we so readily ignore when it becomes difficult or uncomfortable.
Honestly, I can't always (or often) see the exact next steps to take to live a perfect life following Christ. Maybe he wants me to do this, or maybe do that, but I don't know. And then we get caught up in the unknown and don't do anything but sit and do nothing. Don't waste your time--my bad, HIS time. Don't waste his time. Start doing something, do it for Him, and trust that he will lead you.
I leave you with this:
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Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.
-Proverbs 3:5-6
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