Fifteen years ago Jan and I stepped off an
airliner onto American soil after serving as missionaries in Europe. Our lives at that time were lived mostly on
the road traveling throughout Europe strengthening and encouraging churches. We
were perpetual visitors without a sense of community.
When we cleared customs on our return home all
that we owned was contained in the suitcases held in our hands and some boxes
of books and a chair stored in my mother’s attic in Kalispell, Montana. We had very little, but possessed everything.
After all these years being home, I have come
to realize as we live in a modern and developed culture with the availability
of disposable income, we will eventually begin to accumulate “stuff”. My garage is now filled with the stuff of
Western culture. This stuff is attracted to our Western lifestyle. The danger
that comes from living in an affluent society is that we can begin to equate value
and security to the things we possess.
As Jan and I process turning our church over to
a new generation of leaders and enter our next season of Kingdom assignment, we
are having a mental garage sale. What do
we really need to accomplish the task of our future calling?
Years ago we made a valuable discovery. We
discovered that everything we would need to accomplish what God asks us to do
we already carried within our hearts and spirit. This is what makes this life of faith so
beautifully simple and yet profound. This life in the Spirit is not a cumbersome
life. It requires no physical
maintenance, storage or oil changes. The
physical stuff that attaches itself to our lives is never greater in
significance than the spiritual deposit each of us carries within our hearts.
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