With the advent of home and garden TV shows, Internet feeds, and social media floods, it has become normal for us to focus on how things look. But we forget, that is not what this life is about.
Recently I posted this on my facebook page:
What if you lived in a place where no one cared what you wore- they didn’t even see it. You just wore what was comfortable. It could be the same thing day after day and it wouldn’t matter. You were clothed. And they just saw YOU. What if you lived in a place where folks came over to each other’s homes just for the sake of visiting or helping or loving. It didn’t matter if you served the richest of meals or crackers and water. Those were just additions to a visit. Not the purpose. What if you lived in a place where your home was simply a shelter. A place to rest your head, enjoy company, and to sleep soundly. But how it looked was never an issue. It was simply your dwelling place. What if you lived in a place where no one compared. No one envied. Each was working for the good of the others. What if you lived in a place where the center of your life was truly the Gospel. Without all of the other things distracting you, and daily life consisted of being steeped in God’s Word and then living it out. Why do we spend so much time on the details? Why do we add the Gospel to our lives instead of living our lives from the Gospel?
Join me today as we talk about living simply in this world that focuses on the temporal while we have the eternal!
**Please note: at one point I mention a verse in Romans. I should have said Romans 12 and not 2. (I meant Romans 12:2 and spoke too fast 😉 )
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What I Learned From Purging Clutter•Podcast 96
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Is Your Worldview Shaped by Your Newsfeed or By the Bible? • Ep 104
Stop Window Shopping for a Better Life. End Mental Clutter and Live the Life in Front of You
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2 Comments
Amen to all you said, Karen! Great continuation of my bible study time where God was prodding me to keep my eyes focused on heavenly things and not things of this world. (colossians 3:2) We have been “doing renovations” for 5 years, but ours have stemmed out of necessary “surprises” we didn’t know about when we bought our house. When we get caught up looking at our friend’s houses that are super nice and our fixer upper, it usually encourages us to go down that path of focusing on how it looks instead of just making it a space that is liveable! I am always reminded of a talk Francis Chan gave where he was talking about not wanting to be cleaning out all his stuff in his garage because it took him away from time with Jesus and His kingdom…just being reminded that being His, that is my purpose in life brings me back from focusing so much on my house! I think also all that what you said in relation to our homes could be applied to our church families…it can be just as tempting for churches to make it all about the “church home” and the looks and less about relationships with people and God that are the point of meeting there! I have been sad to witness churches focus on how their inside walls look and have their “families” fall apart : (
Thank you for listening. This is a topic that is so dear to my heart and one I talk about so often, but my heart hurts when I look at our continual focus on things. But God…
May we all continue to recognize and call out those things hindering us from seeing Jesus!