Enter another challenge today. A friend (dear Mandy) who I have shared several late night pow-wows with about life, faith, living responsibly, and love, posted a link on her Facebook page today which I quickly read. When Mandy shares something, you read it and hold onto your hat. A Devotion for Wall Street proved to be such a read. Shane Claiborne, who is an outspoken follower of Jesus, known as an author, speaker, and communal liver, shared some interesting thoughts that left me considering my views.
Shane discusses Luke 12, where Jesus warns to be on guard against greed. They story Jesus uses to exemplify what He is getting at is about a rich man who finds success in business. He is so successful, he tears down his existing barns so he can build bigger ones to hold all his stuff. He then plans an early retirement, filled with food, drink, and leisure. This displeases God and God says to the rich man, “You fool! This very night you will die — and what will happen to all your stuff?” Jesus ends the story by saying this ending will be replicated. This is what will happen for those who store up stuff, who are greedy.
I have read Luke 12 more times than I can count. But today's reading left me internalizing things I have glossed over so many times before. How am I like this rich, successful man? Have I made room for more stuff in my life instead of sharing it with those in need? We have recently started a new financial plan with a company called pdq. It's about paying down your mortgage quickly, freeing up cash flow, and investing. It made a lot of sense for us. I am not rethinking this decision, but something our guy said popped into my head after reading this today. He was basically saying we were well on our way to being wealthy. At the time, I found that surprising, but then exciting and exhilarating. Who doesn't want to be wealthy? Who doesn't want a secure retirement? There is a pretty big potential problem - I already belong to the 1% of the world that owns 50% of the world's stuff. The divide will keep getting bigger. Am I really okay with stockpiling more money when there are people starving? How does one find balance between saving responsibly and taking care of the widows and orphans? Are my actions generous and loving? When we brought this up with our financial guy, he didn't really get it. His response - "just think how much you can give away later".
I love what Shane goes on to say: "Maybe God’s dream is for us to live simply so that others may simply live...Woody Guthrie may be right. If Jesus came to Wall Street preaching the same message that he preached in Galilee… he might land himself on a cross again."
I am left challenged to continue the battle against stuff - against society's urgings ("you deserve this"), against my own wants ("that shirt/sweater/purse is so cute") and to continue to improve my use of the Jesus filter when it comes to my finances, to ask hard questions of myself, to ask God to guide me.
It's my prayer that God continues to challenge us allow this front,
Tam
2 comments:
Oh Tammy. I'm so with you on this one (in fact just wrote a post about it too). So nice to know others are struggling with this. We too, are big on paying off our mortgage quickly and want to make smart financial decisions...Shane's article challenged me too. This whole topic is becoming more and more top of mind for me and it's nice to know we're not alone.
I think that any mindful Christian struggles with these things. Sometimes we are spending so much time thinking about this that "we can't see the forest through the trees".
My questions are: When should you stop saving? When is the time in my life that I have saved too much because now it is time to start giving it away?
I don't want Jesus to come and I have a boatload of cash in the bank, because I think that is just as wasteful. At the end of the day I do want to hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant".
And then I turn back to the Bible and read Philippians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."
Then I am in full circle, because my questions are answered by, "Don't worry, I'll tell you when to save it and when to give it away."
Post a Comment