I’m giving up

It’s been quite some time since I last wrote a blog. I am now in South Africa living with a small family in Elsie’s River – near Cape Town. I’ve been here for a week now… it took 2 flights and a 20 hour bus ride from Nepal! It’s only our team this month, 7 people, as opposed to the 50+ we’ve lived with the last 2 months. The last month in Nepal happened very quickly for me, I often found myself lost in reading or in prayer as we didn’t spend all that much time in physical ministry. 

 

One day from Nepal that I’d much like to highlight, though, (like many of my fellow racers) is what our contact called “Faith Day.” This is a day when we set out in groups of 2 or 3 (in my case 3) without any money or plan… without anything to be frank. It was a day built around prayer at every turn… A day filled with listening and obedience to our Father. It gave us all a little taste of what it would look like to be in fellowship with Him throughout an entire day… Not just in sectioned off times we set aside for prayer or reading. It would serve you well to read some of my squadmate’s blogs about Faith Day, there are some amazing stories about how He provided, protected, guided, and delivered them. I do believe, however, it must have been a bit easier psychologically for us, the racers, to have a Faith Day knowing without a doubt that we would have a place to rest our heads that night and that at the very least, we would get to eat the next day even if God didn’t provide food for us. At the end of the day, we knew we would all still be (bluntly) rich, white Americans. 

 

My good brother, Ben Minton, said once “3rd world has no sting to a man with thousands of dollars in his bank account.” Cuts me to the quick and remains in the forefront of my thoughts throughout the ministry I do here in South Africa. I wondered as we were feeding kids from the slums, “will I ever live with my people and not just around (or above) them?” “Will I ever be one with them or will I always just be a rich white man in a missionary costume?” It’s not a ‘poverty gospel’ or a ‘prosperity gospel’ … But rather, the gospel that tells me if I have 2 coats and another has none, I have stolen a coat. At the end of the day, regardless of my stewardship, if I have and another has not – it is inequality. If I have and they have not, I have stolen what I have. 

 

The irony is not lost on me, by the way, how much money God has provided for me to even be here learning about how little money really matters in the scheme of things (how many cars or acres I own matters very little to the children of the slums…). As my brother Ben has said “money is the conduit that brought you to want the riddance of it!”

 

But here’s the thing, I don’t think money is the enemy, and I don’t want you to hear these words and think it means you have to give everything (or anything) away. It’s not about ridding yourself of all material possessions, and like I said, it’s not a poverty gospel. It is about giving up ownership. 

 

(I can almost feel the immediate justifications and defenses for your processions or finances as you read this  – but ask yourself, is there anything you can offer Him that isn’t already His? And who are you, who would not exist apart from that which He has given you? Just be aware that I am not condemning the possessions, but rather the mentality of ownership that comes with a dollar when it’s placed in your hand.)

 

On the World Race, there have been times when I’ve avoided people, neighborhoods, or slums because I’ve been so afraid of having my phone or my money stolen. When I have possessions of value with me as I walk around… they, rather than God, become the object of my focus – It’s no wonder Jesus asks us to take up only our cross when we follow Him, anything else is simply a hindrance.

But I’ve come to learn that what I freely give cannot be stolen and that which I do not own can not be taken from me.

Only given… Only shared.

 

Ive heard people respond to concepts like these a million times, they all say the same thing: “God isn’t calling me to do that.” Or “maybe He wants to bless me and give me things.” And you know what? 

 

I agree, 

100%. 

 

It’s not as much about ‘not having’ as it is letting go, and it is imperative that you relinquish ownership even if you retain possession. 

Submit yourself to the Spirit and give freely what He (the rightful owner) asks you to give.

Maybe it’s something, maybe it’s nothing… Maybe it’s everything.