2 Corinthians 9:6,7 Comfort or Generosity? What Are You Holding Hands With?

My View From “The Chair” this morning - 2 Corinthians 9:6,7.  I am completely self-deceived at moments.  I’ve said that creature comforts aren’t important to me.  I’ve said that clothes, cars, my home isn’t important to me.  I’ve said that my job, titles, reputations aren’t important to me.  So, with only a backpack, I headed out this summer to serve (with my Mr.) at a YWAM base in Perth, Australia and in the Red Light District of Nagpur, India.   We are now almost three weeks into this journey and I’m finding myself realizing how many creature comforts I usually enjoy and take for granted. Different clothes and shoes to wear each day.  A LARGE wash machine, dryer, and refrigerator at my disposal whenever I want or need them.  As many Q-tips as I want or need for whatever purposes.  A fun sports car to get me wherever I desire to go.  The ability to be generous with my resources. These are creature comforts my the Lord’s blessings and my working power have allowed me to have. They are not wrong or sinful.  Up until now, I would’ve classified myself as sold out and generous.  God has been exceptionally gracious to me.  

However, nothing like finding yourself in a foreign land with reduced material things to wake you up to your self-deception.   No car;  Three outfits; Two pair of shoes; A wash machine the size of a small bucket with no dryer; and having to break off the end of a Q-tip after I use it so that I can use the other end.  (Just a side note:  The place we have been gifted to stay is absolutely lovely and beyond what we had hoped for.  Thank you Krystal and Jype for your extreme generosity to us.).  All this has left me realizing that I’ve been holding hands with comfort and relying on “mammon” instead of truly holding hands with a generous God.  Let me pause for a minute and clearly state - Money is neither good nor bad, but how it is used depends on whether it’s owner is under the influence of God or desiring wealth.  Those of you who know me, know that wealth is not anything I desire, but this trip is really stripping away some of my self-deception about what I think I need to meet my basic needs and how wasteful I can be with some of my resources.

I’ve worked on this post for several days.  I’ve written and erased.  I’ve struggled with this because I’m kind of a “no middle ground” person.  I’m all the way in or not at all.  The heater in my car is on high or all the way off.  My friends tease me and tell me that truly, there is middle ground.  Laying in bed this morning, I heard the Lord whisper, “This is a process and I am asking you to take the next step.”  I LOVE that our God is a gentle, loving, patient and merciful God.  I love that He gently guides us in the direction of full reliance on Him.  We are all at different places with this.  What He is asking of you today with your resources (Time, Money, Skills, Gifts, Etc.)  is different than what He is asking of me.   Yes, He desires our complete surrender and total reliance on Him, but like the loving Father that He is, He takes one hand at a time as we surrender and encourages us to give Him both hands so that He can use ALL of our resources for His purposes.  What are you holding onto that He is asking you to surrender for His purposes?  I would love to pray with you, as you continue on this journey.  Leave your name or a brief note in the comments and I will add you to my list.  Until We Chat Again, The Plank-Eyed Girl