“Let your character [your moral essence, your inner nature] be free from the love of money [shun greed–be financially ethical], being content with what you have; for He has said, “I WILL NEVER [under any circumstances] DESERT YOU [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], NOR WILL I FORSAKE or LET YOU DOWN or RELAX MY HOLD ON YOU [assuredly not]!” So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently say, “THE LORD IS MY HELPER [in time of need], I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?””
HEBREWS 13:5-6 AMP
We live in a world of “I want more!”
Stuff over flows our hearts, our minds, and our homes.
Obviously there are things in life we need, but how many things in our homes are things on our want lists?
Some years ago, I decided I wanted to be a minimalist. I hate clutter, and I figured that the more stuff I had, the more I was being kept captive to my home and stuff. I like nice things, but there was a lot of ‘things’ we just didn’t need, so I started on this journey of clearing out the stuff in our home that we didn’t need. Around the same I started thinking about the concept of ‘intentional living’. In other words, I wanted to live my life with purpose, and you can’t do that when stuff rules your life. Minimalism, contentment and intentional living became my mantra.
Taking a stand in this way, meant that I started to notice that we started to save our money, I wasn’t going to the shops as often, my home was easier to clean and keep clean, we felt like we had more time in our day. I really love not being attached to things.
A number of years ago, I went to the July Toy Sale at Target. It was supposed to be a fun morning, instead it was also an eye opening experience. We had decided to put a trampoline on layby for our kids for Christmas because we had looked around, and found that Target was the best price for the size of trampoline we wanted. We had done our homework. I decided to have a quick look at the toy section just in case there was something there I felt to buy for my nieces and nephews. I didn’t last long in the toy area because it was just crazy. There were a lot of women filling trollies.
Two things made me feel uneasy that day.
1) The lady ahead of me in the layby line had 3 trollies – toys stacked high above the top of the trolley, I assumed that she was buying for all her nieces and nephews as well as her own children, but she told me that she had three children and all the toys were for her kids. I must admit I felt a little sick – why do her kids need so many toys for Christmas? As I looked around the store that day, I realised that this woman wasn’t the only one with multiple trollies.
And
2) There was a commotion in the lego isle. Two women were yelling at each other, fighting over the last box of a particular set of lego. There were quite a number of kids in the store that day who were upset at the commotion. Security came quickly to help break the women apart, but the two women continued screaming at each other. One of the women lashed out and scratched the other’s face as she was hauled out of the store by the security guards. It was quite an experience as well as very uncomfortable to witness.
I finished up at Target that day feeling rather unsettled. Two women had allowed themselves to spiral out of control over a box of lego that had a minimal discount on it, and the excessive overspending on Christmas gifts for kids, really frustrated me. It was too much!
I have never been to another Target toy sale ever again.
I want to live a calm, simple, content and intentional life, following God’s plan for our lives. I feel that it is essential to our mental health, and our overall well being to live according to God’s principals. God knows what is best for us, and we need to trust Him.
I love the verse for today. In its simplest form, it says….
“Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I FORSAKE or LET YOU DOWN or RELAX MY HOLD ON YOU!” So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently say, “THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?””
HEBREWS 13:5-6 AMP
