heaven's tree book club

Content With What I have

God has really worked on my ability to accept what He has given over these seven months away from home. I am living in an apartment for the first time in my life. It is not a large apartment. The living space is smaller than the size of my living room in Sacramento. No back yard, no front yard, no garage. There is just one bathroom and it is quite small. It was really hard to adjust at first. I cannot lie, I was quite disappointed when I did a walk through of the place the first time. In my mind, I was thinking, I can't believe I am going to be living here. I am not one who wants a big house, but it would be nice to have a little bit more space.

"Whether we crave inexpensive treasures or designer creations, the issue is the same: greed. When we purchase more than we can afford, we are discontent with what God has given. We no longer trust that God knows best and that He will supply our needs. How do we keep our hearts centered on God, with a thankfulness for what He has given, instead of acquiring more and more? The only way is to keep His perspective in our hearts, to burn it into our minds." (Dillow, 2007 p. 92).

That is the issue. How can I be content with what God has given and provided. The earthquake in Japan really helps to put things into perspective. Thousands dead, many more homeless in cold temperatures. Wherever we live, if we have a roof over our heads, we are blessed. I think in modern times in industrialized nations it is hard to distinguish between need and greed.

I love Dillow's principles on possessions. (p. 92)

1. Everything belongs to God. "Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours. O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. . . . Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand" (i Chronicles 29:11-14, italics mine).

That really changes things. This place that I inhabit, its not mine. Well, it really isn't mine because I pay rent, but neither is the house in Sacramento. It has the name of my parents, but even still it is not the possession of my parents. Everything belongs to God. That puts tremendous responsibility on us to take care of it and to be thankful for it. One might say it is by my own hard work that I have what I have. Yet, the believer knows that God both gives us the skills and abilities to work and the opportunity to do what we are doing. He also placed us in the geographical location where we are at. I cannot imagine what life would be like if I was in a country that does not value democracy and capitalism.

Principle #2 (p. 93).

2. Heart attitude is the issue. Psalm 62:10 says, "Though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them." God cares about where your heart is, where your treasure is. Listen to Jesus' words:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)

That is a penetrating question. Where is my heart? Where is your heart? Sadly, my focus sometimes is on the heavenly treasure because it is so much more immediate. Right now, I am looking for work and the process has been long and hard at times. But for the one who is employed, there is an equal warning to not desire the accumulation of more at the expense of forgetting God.

Dillow asks a powerful question to assess where our treasure is. She asks us to take inventory of what we own and then:

"Suppose this treasure were lost, destroyed, or stolen tomorrow. Would I miss it to the point that it would harm my trust in God, my contentment, or my relationships? If the answer is yes. then your treasure is on earth." (p. 94)

I think when we own items with great economic value this question becomes harder to answer. For instance if we own a fairly new motor vehicle which we bought for a large sum of money or expensive jewelry either bought or given to us. Some things are very difficult to replace. I love the promise Dillow quotes from Hebrews. "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you: never will I forsake you"' (Hebrews 13:5). Our possessions can leave. Not by their own will, but they can be taken away. Clothing can get old and stained by coffee. Computers will break down. Material things do not last.

Principle 3: (p.96).

"God comes first and possessions come second. "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money" (Matthew 6:24).

I am not quite sure if possessions come second but I see her point. I think people come second and possessions come a very distant third. Nevertheless, God comes first. Possessions make for terrible gods. They have no divine power and no feelings.

Finally: (p. 96)

"4. Possessions are to be used, not loved. One of Jesus' most frightening warnings to contemporary America was His rebuke of the rich landowner in Luke 12. When the landowner's fields yielded a great harvest, he greedily built huge barns and stored up his earthly treasure for the years to come. Now, he thought, life will be easy and secure. God's judgment was swift. He called the landowner a fool, and that night the man's life was taken from him. "Watch out!" warned Jesus. "Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions" (Luke 12:15).

It seems rather harsh that the man's life was taken. We do need to take note the warning and the urgency Jesus places on His statement in Luke 12. Indeed possessions are to be used and not loved. The problem here was greed. Jesus did not say anything is wrong in the success of the man. It was his heart and his focus. It was a heart and focus off of God and on gaining more and keeping it. The man from Luke 12 is a warning to all of us. Many of us in our 20s are in a state of transition. What are we to do with our lives? How many things do we want to accomplish before 30 or 40 or 50. There is nothing wrong with setting ambitious goals, that is if those goals have nothing to do with God and everything to do with self-gratification and self-promotion. Again, it is an issue of our hearts and where our focus is.

Dillow does not offer us easy answers or a formula. Rather she asks us to pray. We must come before God with all that we have, acknowledge that it belongs to Him and ask Him what He wants us to do with our abundance. We must also pray Psalm 139:23-24, and ask God to search our hearts. Where is our treasure, is it God or something else. We remember from Scripture that the rich man turned down eternal life because of his great possessions (MK. 10).

Missing from Dillow's chapter is an element of social justice and care for the poor. I think it is appropriate to insert the words from a laborer from World Vision here.

"With regard to American Christians, the question is not, as the saying goes, the size of the dog in the fight. Clearly, the American Church is a very large "dog." But what size is the fight in our dog? Are we fighting the good fight to be faithful stewards of the abundance entrusted to us by God, or does He expect more fight out of us? Are we fighting hard on behalf of the poor; that is, are we giving it all we 'we got? These are the questions we must each ask, not only of our churches, but of ourselves individually. And they are not easy to answer.
There is much at stake. The world we live in is under siege—three billion are desperately poor, one billion hungry, millions are trafficked in human slavery, ten million children die needlessly each year, wars and conflicts are wreaking havoc, pandemic diseases are spreading, ethnic hatred is flaming, and terrorism is growing. Most of our brothers and sisters in Christ in the developing world live in grinding poverty. And in the midst of this stands the Church of Jesus Christ in America, with resources, knowledge, and tools unequaled in the history of Christendom. I believe that we stand on the brink of a defining moment. We have a choice to make.
When historians look back in one hundred years, what will they write about this nation of 340,000 churches? What will they say of the Church's response to the great challenges of our time—AIDS, poverty, hunger, terrorism, war? Will they say that these authentic Christians rose up courageously and responded to the tide of human suffering, that they rushed to the front lines to comfort the afflicted and to douse the flames of hatred? Will they write of an unprecedented outpouring of generosity to meet the urgent needs of the world's poor? Will they speak of the moral leadership and compelling vision of our leaders? Will they write that this, the beginning of the twenty-first century, was the Church's finest hour?
Or will they look back and see a Church too comfortable, insulated from the pain of the rest of the world, empty of compassion, and devoid of deeds? Will they write about a people who stood by and watched while a hundred million died of AIDS and fifty million children were orphaned, of Christians who lived in luxury and self-indulgence while millions died for lack of food and water? Will schoolchildren read in disgust about a Church that had the wealth to build great sanctuaries but lacked the will to build schools, hospitals, and clinics? In short, will we be remembered as the Church with a gaping hole in its gospel?
I believe that much more is at stake than global economics or world missions. More is at risk even than the lives of the poor and the orphaned. The heart and soul of the Church of Jesus Christ, the very integrity of our faith and our relevance in the world, hang in the balance. (Stearns, 2009 p. 238-239)

Lord Jesus, let this song be the prayer of our hearts and the cry of our souls.

Power of Your Name

Surely children weren't made for the streets
And fathers were not made to leave
Surely this isn't how it should be
Let Your Kingdom come

Surely nations were not made for war
Or the broken meant to be ignored
Surely this just can't be what You saw
Let Your Kingdom come
Here in my heart

And I will live
To carry on compassion
To love a world that's broken
To be Your hands and feet
And I will give
With the life that I've been given
And go beyond religion
To see the world be changed
By the power of Your name
By the power of Your name

Surely life wasn't made to regret
And the lost were not made to forget
Surely faith without action is dead
Let Your Kingdom come
Lord break this heart

And I will live
To carry on compassion
To love a world that's broken
To be Your hands and feet
And I will give
With the life that I've been given
And go beyond religion
To see the world be changed
Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.com
By the power of Your name

Your name
Is a shelter for the hurting
Jesus Your name
Is a refuge for the weak
Only Your name
Can redeem the undeserving
Jesus Your name
Holds everything I need

And I will live
To carry on compassion
To love a world that's broken
To be Your hands and feet
And I will give
With the life that I've been given
And go beyond religion
To see this world be changed
By the power of Your name

And I will live
To carry on compassion
To love a world that's broken
To be Your hands and feet
And I will give
With the life that I've been given
And go beyond religion
To see the world be changed
By the power of Your name

The power of Your name.