Simplicity

When it comes to discipline in our finances I truly believe an attitude of simplicity must come first and foremost. Richard Foster lists simplicity as a spiritual discipline, saying it is an inward reality that results in an outward life-style.

Foster says, "We crave things we neither need nor enjoy...we are made to feel ashamed to wear clothes or drive cars until they are worn out. The mass media have convinced us that to be out of step with fashion is to be out of step with reality. It is time to awaken to the fact that conformity to a sick society is to be sick." Pg. 80 Celebration of Discipline.

We would all agree that the American Dream is becoming an American Financial Nightmare. To buy more stuff and better cars and bigger houses is creating so much stress and unhappiness on us all. We have to step back and look at ancient ideas like simplicity and discipline with a fresh perspective.

Simplicity is about ownership- who owns your stuff, or maybe better put- "Who owns you?"
If I own everything then I deserve more and more and am never satisfied. But if i can truly embrace the idea that God owns everything even my most prized possessions (my wife and kids), then I will be a better steward. Because we are all better at stewardship than ownership, because the idea being a stewards connects us to Eden and our creation. The idea of ownership connects us to our Fall.

I stand at the door and knock

Jesus first said the words, "I stand at the door and knock."

I know my experiences have explained this verse as an invitation to the sinner to enter a relationship with the divine. What I have recently understood is that this verse was written to a group of already convinced. What's the difference?

Big difference in my mind if you understand this verse for evangelism or discipliship or as we would say at our church, is this verse Win or Train? If this verse is about evangelism it doesn't really apply to me anymore. If I look at the original context it is a very applicable verse to me.

To look at this verse from the perspective that as a believer in Christ, I have put him oustide my house and he must stand at the door and invite himself in is very sobering.

Spiritual Disciplines are the daily practices to make sure he doesn't stand outside, and if he is outside, they are the catalyst to invite him back into the house so we can dine together.

These have been lacking in my life for sure. I have to make sure I don't put my Christ outside.

Gaps require attention

What I've come to notice is that if I'm distracted I can't pay attention to my gaps.
When I have drama or pain in relationships I can't find time to exercise, to read the Word, or look over my budget.

I personally can't seem to deal with too many things at once. I can either pay attention to my gaps or I can deal with the unexpected aspects of life not both.

Maybe this an excuse I've used to not bridge these gaps...

Can't Fix Ourselves

This re-post has been edited from the original.

This lesson I'm learning about the inability to manage my sin is powerful.





It is confusing as well. Paul in Colossians 2 says human regulations have an appearance of wisdom "with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence." 2:23


Does "self-imposed" mean I'm making myself worship or does it mean I worship myself? What do you think?


I have long understood this model of religion. I grew up in the Bible belt and the typical church wants it members to behave a certain way not be a certain kind of person. If you cuss, smoke, drink, fornicate, or run at church you may go straight to hell if Jesus comes back and catches you. No wonder we are leaving the church in droves after high school, what a happy message.

Think about it this way. Why do we need grace? Because we fall short of God's glory, right? Right. Well if I fall short of God's glory (which I do) then I don't just need grace once, I need it continually. Because the falling, it keeps happening.

Read the book Bo's Cafe, its a great story about how we can't fix ourselves.

http://www.boscafe.com/site/


Behavior modification does hold some value, yes I understand that. But we have to understand it is a tool not the goal. I have to learn this lesson over and over again. Remember if you could fix yourself then you wouldn't need Jesus and his work on the Cross.

Fixing our own gaps

One of the things I'm doing to rectify these gaps is reading Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline. He says something very profound that really impacted me. "Whatever may be the issue for us-- anger, fear bitterness, gluttony, pride. lust, substance abuse-- we determine never to do it again; we pray against it, fight against it, set our will against it" (pg. 4).

Isn't that so true. The gaps in my life have been caused by things listed above--gluttony, pride, and lust. I have determined many times, thousands of times, to never over eat again, and after lunch I'll make a new commitment which will last until dinner.

Why is sin so hard to deal with on our own? Why have we convinced ourselves that our problems aren't really sin, they are just issues to manage?

I know I'm not alone in this thinking, but I can't change it in my own life, why in the world would I undertake to change it in others?

I have to remind myself daily, no hourly, that the power to change me lies outside of myself. It lies in the one who created me, only he can change me. Praise God.

Foster quotes Heini Arnold when he says, "As long as we think we can save ourselves by our own will power, we will only make the evil in us stronger than ever" (pg. 5). Wow that's strong...

What causes the gaps?

I think the logical place to start this adventure is to look at what causes the gap between who I am and who I want to be.
Have you ever heard someone say "she had so much potential."?
In sports you clearly have two groups of people the talented and the hard working. Story after story exists of some kid with all the gifts and abilities but he never makes it the Big Leagues. Why?
Unrealized potential. Gaps.
More rare are the stories of someone with less than ideal talent who makes it to the top. Think Steve Nash.
What's the difference?

I really believe the difference between where I am and where I want to be is discipline. Maybe for you it's something different but for me discipline feels like a good description.
If Steve Nash lacked discpline would he have won 2 MVP awards on his talent? Highly unlikely.

I'm the type of person who has MVP potential w/out MVP discipline. Anyone else like that?

The saddest thing would be to get to the and look back and see all the potential had been wasted and the work to close these gaps was never undertaken.

1st blog

This is my first blog. In fact I don't even read blogs. I have before but not on a regular basis.
So why I am starting a blog?
Good question, glad you asked.

I have noticed that in my life there are gaps. Not the gaps that exist between teeth. Gaps that exist between who I am and who I know I could be.
Gaps between what I do and what I'm suppose to do.
Gaps between what I weigh and what I could or even should weigh.
Gaps between how I parent and how I want to parent.
Gaps between...

Have you ever felt the gap?

I think we all do.

Don't we all realize at some point we have unrealized potential? We could be better but...

I decided the time had finally come in my life to let God close those gaps.

This blog is my attempt at share the journey with whomever cares to read about, while at the same time creating a certain amount of accountability to the task at hand.

This much I know: I've tried to close the gaps that exist in my life and I can't. So I've decided to let God do it. How? Not quite sure if I knew that I'd be writing a book, not a blog.