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Category: simplicity

just enough

just enough

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Is it sinful to spend money on yourself? I don’t think so …
Is it sinful to spend money only on yourself? Yes, I do think so …

Is it sinful to want more than you have? I don’t think so …
Is it sinful to be ungrateful for what you do have? Yes, I do think so …

The gospel is about grace, about freedom, about freely enjoying the blessings of this world and sharing freely them, about living day to day without anxiety and with generosity. Things, money, wealth may come and go; let them! We cannot serve both God and wealth. We make an idol of wealth both by having to have it and by having not to have it! If we are preoccupied with accumulating wealth or preoccupied with guilt about having “too much,” in either case, we are preoccupied with things and not occupied with serving God.

Paul knew the secret, the secret of always having “just enough.” The secret is Christ. Having Christ is enough.

    I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have more than enough. I have learned this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have too much or too little. I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me.
unexpected pleasures

unexpected pleasures

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No life is entirely planned. Some of us are well-displined and well-organized, living structured and carefully measured lives. Others of us are impulsive or indecisive, living rather chaotic lives. But to all of us — disciplined or not, well-organized or not — unexpected things happen. And it is often the unexpected pleasures that are the sweetest.

The grace of God is an unexpected pleasure …

poor in spirit

poor in spirit

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Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven …

In Luke’s version, Jesus says, Blessed are you who are poor. Luke draws attention to Jesus’ offer of grace and favor to those people human society has cast aside. Luke celebrates Jesus’ stirring announcement of good news to the poor — to those who are quite literally poor. But in Matthew’s version, Jesus says, Blessed are the poor in spirit … Meaning those who recognize their own spiritual bankruptcy, who realize their desparate need for God’s grace and forgiveness? Probably …

But what if the word poor in this instance was still understood in its primitive sense as referrring to material poverty? Then what might Jesus mean by poor in spirit? Poor … in spirit. In spirit, laying aside claim to anything we may possess. Acknowledging in our hearts and minds that whether we have much or whether we have little, all that we have we hold in trust. It belongs to someone else. It is ours to use … at the pleasure of our Master.

When we are poor in spirit, our possessions do not control us. We let go. We let go of everything. We are poor … in spirit. We have nothing. And yet, we have everything … because ours is the kingdom of heaven! When we are poor in spirit, our possessions do not get in the way of our relationship with God. And when we are poor in spirit, our possessions do not get in the way of our relationships with each other. There are no “class” differences, because we are poor alike, and since what we have we hold in trust, what we have is readily shared. When we are truly poor in spirit, it may be that no one need be poor in reality! (See Acts 4:32-35!)