Getting Free
READ: Mark 10:17-27
One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. —Mark 10:21
Personal downsizing usually occurs when someone moves to a smaller home. Furniture and other possessions are sacrificed because there is no longer room for them. But when psychologist Jane Adams moved to a larger home, she still went through the difficult process of parting with many treasured items from her worldwide travels. Instead of downsizing, she was ridding herself of unnecessary things that bound her to the past.
“Downsizing,” she said, “is about pinching, restricting, and cutting back while keeping yesterday’s dreams alive; divesting is about freedom, expansion, . . . and dreaming new [dreams].”
Instead of searching for meaning in possessions, we are called to find life and freedom in Jesus. To a religious young man whose possessions gripped him, Christ said: “‘One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.’ But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Mark 10:21-22).
It’s hard to imagine Jesus needing a storage unit for His extra stuff. If anything I own keeps me from obeying Him wholeheartedly, am I ready to open my hand, release it, and freely follow Him?
No longer do I ask for things,
For Christ is my desire;
He walks with me and talks with me;
He is my satisfier. —Bang
A faith that costs nothing and demands nothing is worth nothing.
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Christian Life > Lifestyle issues > Money/Possessions
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