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Aug. 25, 2008
Do You Want a Permanent Vacation?
So many want to be godly wives and mothers. They want an organized home and homeschool. They want godly children who are trained for the Lord. But, for some, despite all efforts, the house is a mess, the children are wild, schooling and chores are never caught up, the marriage struggles, and there is never, ever, EVER enough time. Is this you?
Imagine this:
A friend suddenly says you can live in their vacation cabin for one year. It is tucked away in the woods, on the edge of a beautiful lake, surrounded by hiking trails, wildlife, and picturesque views. No TV, internet, or cable. Just a small town about 45 minutes away where there is one large grocery store and a library.
The cabin is empty except for the basic furniture.
So, you pack.
You pack one set of bed sheets per bed. One towel and washcloth per family member.
Just the school books you will be working out of for now with the necessary school supplies.
Your Bibles, a hymn book, some journals.
Five changes of clothes and two pairs of shoes per person.
One family game, and one multi-aged toy (Legos or building blocks, perhaps).
That's it. That's all you take.
Could you "get it all done" while you were at the cabin?
Did you know you can accomplish this same "vacation" state at home?
GET RID OF STUFF!
I cannot stress how important it is to not be attached to STUFF. Stop the collecting, stop all the toys, the video games, the time and money-wasting hobbies, surfing the internet, shopping through catalogs, yard saling, soccer, karate, TV, running around, co-op classes, swimming lessons, remodeling your home, scrapbooking... JUST STOP! Click HERE to understand this more.
"BUT!" You wail, "My hobby is important to me. My collection is sentimental!"
Where does Jesus rank in importance and sentimentality? Would you choose Him over your hobby or your collection? If you're not able to get it all done and your life is a continual state of chaos, you do not choose Him. You are a slave to your stuff.
"BUT!" You wail, "My Bible study, my church activities, and my fellowship with others are my Biblical calling and are important to furthering God's kingdom!"
Are you a wife? Then your Biblical calling and priority is to be your husband's helpmeet. Are you a mother? Then your Biblical calling is to raise your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That comes first. God's plan for growing His kingdom is worked out through the roles He created for men and women and families from the foundation of the world. You will not further the kingdom more by teaching a Sunday School class than you will by just being who God has designed you and called you to be: Your husband's wife and your children's mother. The order of priority is critical. If you think you have a calling outside your role as helpmeet and mother, and that "calling" takes away from making your husband and children your top priority, then you are thinking wrong. You have been deceived. Click HERE to read more about Biblical Priorities.
"BUT!" You wail, "My children's toys and video games, and internet, and movies, and TV shows, and super heroes are just fun! You're not against fun! We choose godly things! These things should stay, right?"
Who do your children think is more fun and more cool? Their Disney princesses and Superfriends? Or God. How have you decorated their rooms? Why do you need them to play so much? So they will stay busy because you don't have time to train them and be with them? Does that movie/toy/book/show/game grow them in godly character and bring them closer to the Lord? If not, how are they growing spiritually? Click HERE to read more about how you may be training your children in idolatry instead of training them to love the Lord.
"BUT!" You wail, "I just want to raise godly children who love the Lord! The stuff I own has nothing to do with that!"
Then I ask you to consider your own appetites and the appetites your are creating in your children by the stuff you and they feed on daily. Click HERE to read more about how to build an appetite in your children for God and for godly things.
"BUT!" You wail, "I just want... "
It's not about what you want. If you are truly a follower of Jesus Christ, a true Christian, then it's about what God wants.
Are you willing to pay the price?
Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. Mark 10:21-22
Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:35-40
Love the Lord. Not your stuff.
Love the Lord. Not your hobbies.
Love the Lord. Not your collections.
Love the Lord. Not your toys.
Love the Lord. Not your movies.
Love the Lord. Not your internet.
Love the Lord. Not your TV shows.
Love the Lord. Not your extra activities that take you away from your husband and children.
Love the Lord.
Follow Him.
Do you truly want to follow Him? Or are you afraid to let go of your "riches."
You cannot have both. Ask Him, and you will see.
Take a piece of paper. Draw a line down the center and make two columns. On the left side, write "Putting the Lord first and His priorities." On the right side, write a list of everything you don't want to give up. Then, ask the Lord, one by one, if those things on the right fit over in the left column. If they don't, then you must choose. Just like the rich man. Jesus never commands you not to own stuff. He just commands that you be willing to walk away from it at the drop of a hat and not be attached to it. If you are attached--addicted--it is better for you to not have it at all.
Just some food for thought. Once again:
Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. Mark 10:21-22
The world will think you are crazy. Your family, your friends, and even some of your church leaders. But if you are reading this and God is calling you, then you know His calling is clear. And I will be praying for you, as I do for all who stop to read things here.
I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. Romans 12:1-2
BUT! You wail, "I can't get rid of anything. My husband is the one who wants all the stuff! That would be disobeying him and upsetting him!"
I hear that one a lot. A LOT! And in a lot of cases, if you ask the husband, he will say it is his wife who has to have all the stuff. It is almost always his impression that she shops too much, buys too much, wants more clothes for herself, for the children, wants a better car, wants a better home... and on and on.
So, without knowing your or your situation, all I can ask you to do is evaluate yourself. Are you attached to stuff? And if your husband truly would get upset and not understand if you got rid of a bunch of things, don't try to convince me you're not more creative than that problem! You're certainly creative when it comes to getting all the stuff. Get creative when it comes to getting rid of it or becoming unattached to it. You can have the TV, but not turn it on. You can put things away out of sight and out of mind. You can fill a back closet or a spare room with things you don't need cluttering your daily life. Remember, God doesn't command you to not own it. He wants you not to be attached to it, enslaved to it, engulfed by it, and waste away your days drowning in it!
God's yoke is easy and His burden is light. If you can respond to this calling and let go and follow Him, you will be able to get it all done. You will have rest. And you will be effective and successful for His kingdom and for His glory. And you know it. If you don't know it, then you don't know Him. |
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Aug. 25, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Pam