Hope Lives (Week Three)

Now that I’m back from our brief trip to Michigan for the Thanksgiving holiday, I can finally sit down and post some thoughts on week 3 – I trust you all had as wonderful a holiday with family & friends as we had.

Since preaching about week three last Sunday, I continue to wrestle with the idea of “enough.” Rob Bell’s words have come back at me several times this week, from his video “Rich”:

“When some hear the phrase laying up treasures, they start to think of money and wealth and mansions, but Jesus never even used the word mansion…nowhere in His teaching is the point about getting more stuff. It’s not the goal here on earth and it’s not the goal someday in Heaven“

For Jesus, it’s about being content. It’s about taking hold of the life that is truly life. It’s about realizing that the kinds of people we’re becoming matters…it has eternal implications. It’s about our future. It’s about our forever.”

Am I content – really? Or do I just want a little bit more? Am I living life clinging to my stuff, or am I allowing Christ to set the standard for contentment – for living open-handedly?

One of the most frustrating things for me in recent days is watching this “discontent” grow in my children. It doesn’t matter what toys or games or music they have, as soon as we walk into a store, the lure of “stuff” draws them in, and all I hear is, “Dad, I want….”

I know that there is a certain amount of that “want” that is internal to our humanness, but I can’t help but wonder how much of it they have learned from me. And I can’t help but wonder if God is as frustrated with me at times as I can get with them.

~ by David Bannach on November 30, 2008.