I recently found the Instagram accounts preachersNsneakers and prophetsNwatches which basically call out well known evangelical pastors and prophets who dress in expensive clothing by showing the price of watches, belts, shoes and other accessories they are wearing while leading worship. Praising God in $1,000 shoes. Something about this really has stuck in my head the last few days.
Did it bother me?
Does it bother God?
I don't know.
I've been really wrestling with the concepts of gift vs purchasing. Both regarding grace and faith and in regards to the economy, the earth and material wealth. It made me wonder about our role as Christians to stewardship resources in our care. Where is the line between "a few nice things" and "ostentatious consumerism?"
Jesus spoke often of wealth and material possessions. It seemed to him a stumbling block of faith
" You cannot serve God and money."
But I also don't believe that God intends for us to live in poverty. But where's the line? Where do $1,000 shoes fall on that line?
Once a year, usually in the fall, church will hold a stewardship campaign to remind you to give to support the church. Well done ones get you to think broader... a consideration of how to best use our resources... finances, time, possessions, land... in service of our faith.
If Jesus gave one command, it was to love each other.
I consider my life. How do I make decisions about finances and stuff?
My house, my clothes, my car, my dishes... every single item I own, beyond that, how I spend my time, how I organize my finances consider deeply the people I love. To be perfectly honest, almost all my deceives about time and money center on my role as a mother. I mean, I love Legos as much as the next person and my well loved Honda oddesy, but my choices about how to use my resources were entire different when I was single or when Ulrich and I were just the two of us. This year, I, like many women gave up my job to stay home with my kids. A decision I would make again and again. I was fortunate to have the option.
Yesterday, I was sorting books. We checked out 100 books from the library this past week. I was going through them reviewing what we've read and can return and what we still needed to read. I began to wonder what life would look life if we got everything from the library. Using it when we needed, returning it when we were done. Maybe the earth IS a library...
Food, water, air. Natural things freely given by the earth to all creatures. Energy comes from the sun which feeds life which dies and over millions of years has become most of the energy we use. Plastic... from the same process. Glass, metal, wood... those come from the earth. We add the sweat of our brow and fantastic creativity to change all these things into a fantastically comfortable world. When we are done, we return everything back to the earth. Though, not usually in condition to be "re-checked out."
When I use these two concepts...
Love as a guide for how to prioritize resources under my control
And
The abundance of the earth as a free library with a responsibility to "return things in good condition"
As a lens for helping to inform my relationship with things, I become inspired to do better. I can look at things differently. I can maybe do more with less. I can maybe use my possessions to better the lives of people around me.
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