Let’s keep going with 7 and the spending/generosity theme.
Here’s Jen:
“So, what if we addressed spending, since every new day is a blank check, and according to Jesus, potential for sanctification?
Yes, we may need to address the corner we’ve painted ourselves into, as mortgages, credit card payments, and bills are fairly inflexible. There is one category for the things we owe, and it may or may not be in need of reform. Your house, your cars, your bills, your debt; we have to lie in the beds we’ve made or consider downsizing to a twin.
But what about the second category involving expendable income, especially if the first category is trimmed…I recognize two easy shifts we could make, starting today.
One, nonconsumption. This is the simplest and hardest. It takes true courage to rage against this machine. Could we be countercultural enough to say,
“We’re not buying that. We don’t need that. We’ll make do with what we have. We’ll use the stuff we already own.”
We could wisely discern needs from wants, and frankly, at least half of those line items are misfiled. We can simply stop spending so much, use what we have, borrow what we need, repurpose possessions instead of replacing them, and – the kicker – live with less.
What are your top categories of spending?
What might ‘nonconsumption’ look like in those categories? Any habits need to be altered?
Two, redirect money saved. Humor me: what if we lived on 75 percent of our income and gave the rest away strategically? Or what if we downsized to 50 percent, bringing fresh meaning to Jesus’ command to ‘love our neighbor as ourselves’?
Your giving can affect extraordinary change. Pick a need, country, people group, an organization focused on empowerment and sustainable independence. You could be an answer to countless prayers.
Are you drawn to a need or people group? What might radical generosity look like here?
While it is easy to become paralyzed by the world’s suffering and inequalities created by corruption and greed, we actually hold immense power for change, simply by virtue of our wealth and economic independence. Because we decide where our dollars go. Never has so much wealth been so concentrated; our prosperity is unprecedented. If enough of us decided to share, we would unleash a torrent of justice…
And let’s not miss the personal healing extreme generosity catalyzes:
‘Give from what is within to the poor, and then everything is clean for you.’
Wouldn’t it be just like Jesus to heal the giver and the receiver through the same act of generosity?
Doesn’t it sound just like Him to finally mend our insides once we love on the outside?
That to save our lives we must lose them, and the saving part doesn’t happen until the losing part?
Maybe the secret has been in front of our eyes all this time, but it was disguised as generosity, which seems an unlikely way to battle our own demons.
Perhaps we don’t need another sermon or a deeper Bible study or a different mentor or a better church to heal what is broken inside us…Maybe in the crazy giving, the reckless sharing, the dangerous releasing, Jesus finally burrows into our hearts, piecing back the shards and lifting the shroud.
Maybe everything He ever said was true.
These Scriptures, this conversation, these ideas…it’s a lot. Almost every good turn begins with tension, so if you have it, God is moving. He loves you. He loves us. How are you responding? What is God showing you? Where are you struggling?”
The 7 Experiment, pgs. 138-141
Lots of love!