Non-Consumerism... is it biblical?

I've been reading some blogs about the whole non-consumerism movement. Basically the premise is not to buy things that are not NECESSARY in order to a) be frugal b) save the environment and c) be in the cool crowd (a little tongue in cheek here)

But how does non-consumerism compare to the bible. I found the following references at the bottom of my post. Mainly from this post: http://www.christianpf.com/money-in-the-bible. I added one, that seemed to clinch it for me. It is the Genesis verse. In essence God gave us this abundant earth to use. It does not belong to the fishes or the plants or the rest of the plant/animal kingdom, it is our's to use. And that point of view is supported by all of the proverbs verses. It is also supported by the verses in Exodus where God sends manna down with strict instructions to let the uneaten manna to be left. Isn't that, like, wasteful.

If we ended it there I think we would be selfish and inconsiderate. There is a theme throughout the bible to protect the children. There is also a theme to be wise and not wasteful. I think it is very unwise, wasteful and hurtful to our children to buy things and not use them.

But here is the biggie. God's number 1 commandment is:

Exodus 20:3 You shall have no other gods before me

If you put your stuff (cars, houses, Kitchen-Aid stand mixer cough cough) before God you are breaking his number one commandment.

So how do you balance those somewhat conflicting ideals. I think it lies in buying what you want and need (that you can afford---different topic but completely true) but not letting the things master you. Interestingly, I think for the non-consumers they have to be careful that the avoidance of things shouldn't master you either. When you live, eat and breathe non-consumer lifestyle (instead of God) then you have just replaced one god with another.

Genesis 1:28-29

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." 29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

Luke 15:13
And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into
a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.

John 6:12
When they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.”

Proverbs 10:4
Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

Proverbs 13:4
The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the soul of the diligent is made fat.

Proverbs 21:5
The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty.

Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,

God Bless,

Haunted by the devil in my dreams

I've been feverish for the past few days. First night it was peak 103. Next night it was peak 101. But tonight was the worst night and the peak was only 99. I was thrashing and crying. I kept dreaming over and over again that God had a system of picking out who would go to heaven. His system was (if I can remember it), if you got a specific number in bingo (or something) you would go to heaven. Sometimes I would dream I got the right number but was confused at why our family was spared and others weren't. But mostly, I got the wrong number and was forced to make a decision to try and take someone's winning number. Kinda like a version of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery. It was so wrong, it was so scary. I haven't had a nightmare in years and years, and only when I have a fever. In the midst of it, I woke up (still kinda in the dream world) thinking how could anyone follow a god like that. Thankfully reason returned after I got up, God chooses all of us, every last one of us, it's us who reject Him. It still is sad but somehow level, righteous, I don't know.

My stomach is still clenching and unclenching. I'd love to wake hubby up and get his very calm warm reaction. But if you know my hubby, waking him up is not the right thing to do. The only time he shows a temper is when he has been sleeping and you wake him. I don't know if I can go back to the bed, I think I will take a sleeping pill and sleep here on the couch. Of course that will mean no church, but it wasn't really a possibility with how sick I've been anyway.

Thank you God for being the God of Justice.

Please God...grant me strength and health

We go to Joli-B tomorrow. This is not going to be one of those wise or even theological posts. This is one of those "Please God get me through the next week posts". Joli-B is a bible family camp 9 hours drive away. We are taking our 2 plus 2 neighbour boys who are so close to giving their lives to Christ. I think. It is a whole lotta fun. Here is the problem.

I have had such bad diarrhea lately (I have IBS) that I cannot go farther than 30 seconds from a washroom. I tried to go visit my mom and my brother and I had to turn back. I would go 20 minutes and then need to stop for 20 minutes. It took me 5 hours to go a distance that would usually take 3 hours. It kills me not to have the ability to see my mom and my brother when I want. They are not long for this world and I would wish to be close to them. I cried all the way home. Part of the problem was that I needed to eat and drink to stay awake, but the eating and drinking caused me to need to stay near a washroom for the inevitable emergency. I think for the trip to Joli B I will just take a sleeping pill and not eat. I may make it that way. That means that John will be driving for the whole 9 hours. We were going to leave after dinner tomorrow but I think it would be better for Hubby if we leave after lunch so that he can drive in the day...better for him. We will get there in time to go in the pool and have some supper.

I just need not to be sick...please please God. I want to be there for them all.

Amazing Sermon today about sin nature vs. spirit

Okay, if I was 6 I would probably summarize today's sermon as:

"No really, the devil did make me do it" OR rather "I didn't do it, the devil in me did"

But since I am not 6, I got a whole lot more depth out of it than that. The list of the verses referenced was long but here is what I got.

L. started out the sermon comparing our rebirth to our original birth

• We are innocent in that we haven't sinned yet
• We are completely dependent on parents (in the rebirth Father)
• We are immature
• We have a long way to grow
• We bear the image of our parents
• We are a completely new identity
  

God sees us as perfect. And we are. There are tonnes of verses in the NT about the new creation, new spirit, and in Isaiah a new heart. Now I have a bible teacher that thinks this is THE most important thing to understand and if we understood this, we would be transformed (again). And she is right. God sees us as blameless and holy. This spirit He put in us, is his own, and thus is Godly and righteous and just.

There was much more in the sermon (much more) and L. hit on how we still have to carry around the old sin until we shed these physical bodies. But I want to concentrate on how we are blameless and holy in God's eyes, and different ways this SHOULD revolutionize my life.

1. Okay, this might come off sounding a little vain, but since it is my blog I am going to indulge myself (for the purposes of growth). I have always wondered how there are good people who are not Christians if God is everything that is good in us. In fact I was a good "egg" before I accepted the Lord as my CEO and liege. I gave to charities, most people thought I was wonderful. I was helpful kind and all-around-nice-girl. But the reason I was good was not pure. I felt like if I was mean or selfish or grumpy or anything then I was a failure in DOD (Dear Old Dad's) eyes. And that failure caused great guilt...off the scale guilt. Now I realize two things:
   1. I was not quite all that good. First off, I scared some people silly. Still do at times. I think that I should be personally banned from all computer 1-800 helplines. I am a menace. In fact this is the first thing I will do. No computer helplines. I am quite forceful in my opinions, so I need to be more gentle.
   2. My "goodness" was based on fear/guilt and would have eventually turned bitter. Because the fruit eventually shows what was at the root. And my root was all yucky and dying.
2. It's not me that has to change. Well it is and it isn't (there is dichotomy between the sin nature and the spirit). The sin isn't me, the true me is the spirit of God in me. So instead of forcing change by trying to stick to laws (and we all know how well that works), I am better off by praying for help/guidance/wisdom/hope and GENTLENESS from the Holy Spirit. He can work changes that are impossible for me. And it's good because it seems fairly impossible. Consistent refusing to follow the flesh will make it easier and easier to refuse. But only God can give me the will. And only I have the power to act out the will.
   
3. Rest in God. I am not a rester. Not by choice anyway. I am always trying to improve so that I measure up. Who do I think is measuring??? If God already finds me blameless and holy, who am I trying to impress??? The man. The father figure who never approves of anyone man. That man. So again I need to pray that God makes it clear to me that "the man" is completely irrelevant.
   

I love my husband

I have been puzzling over the Water into Wine miracle in John 2 for a couple of days now. It seems to me all of the parables have a deeper meaning than you can see on the surface. I believe that the water into wine parable is probably the same. So here are the possibilities that I have come up with.

1. Jesus turning the water into wine was symbolic of turning us from water into something more worthwhile wine.
2. Jesus turning water into wine was symbolic of the kick off event of His Journey to Calvary. His blood is the wine and he is getting ready to be sacrificed.
3. It is just a story of the glory of God and how he can change water into wine with just a word.

So I mention the way I am spinning on this and my husband says something along the lines of "Takes quite a bit to make wine" (he used to make his own wine). And part of making wine is removing all the sediment.

AHHHHHH, okay here is my take of how this could be a symbolism. Jesus turned water into wine with just words. Previously, it would take much hard work, much refining to make the wine. What happens if the wine was the process to get to heaven? If before Jesus, there was much work to be done to get to heaven. Following rules. If rules are broken, making amends through slaying animals (which would have cost you a pretty penny if you broke a lot of rules). Now we just (and I say just in only the sense that it is pretty easy to say the words, not so easy to get to the place where you want to say them or feel you can say them) say the words that "I am sorry. Please forgive me. I believe you died on the cross for me." and we are wine...the best wine of the whole night.

God is continually showing me his word in ways that help me to live my life. How does understanding this help me live my life. Well, there was a guest doing a sermon at our church and although I was not there, I understood that he said that all the old testament rules apply to us. I am going to go over to his website and see how he qualifies this because Paul and Peter both say that the Old Testament rules on food are not necessary. And Paul deliberately says that circumcision is a sin, if you do it for the reasons of being Jewish.

Blessings,
Connie

Philippians 4:7 Then God will give you peace, a peace which is too wonderful to understand. That peace will keep your hearts and minds safe as you trust in Christ Jesus.

Is frugality a command from God?

Today I've been pondering what God wants of us. Specifically, my income is probably going to go down significantly at the end of the year, and I want to know what God wants us to do about it. Does He want us to go into hyper saving mode? Does He want us to cut a few things that are of lower priority and wait for the mess to be sorted out? Does He want us to simply trust Him and do nothing and wait?

I don't know. I used to live by the following words: “Pray as though everything depended on God and act as if everything depended on you.” — St. Augustine (354-430). I don't want to dis a smart guy like St Augustine but there is something wrong with this quote in terms of it jiving with the bible. Again and again the bible reminds us that God is in control and self-reliance is just another word for disbelief. (Eph 2:8-9, Heb 3:12-13, Matt 6:33-34). If we credit the notion that we are to work as if everything depended on us then it follows that we didn't believe that God was omnipotent. If we were to completely believe that God was omnipotent we would do nothing to aid Him (for our efforts would be sorry at best) but through His divine mercy and love He asks us to help Him in fulfilling His will (not because He could not pull them off but because it helps us to worship Him fully). Okay, this is how I understand this concept: dogs kind of view us as their God. We all try to train the dog (even when we have the world's stupidest dogs --- as I do). Really it doesn't matter if Tommy will sit when I give him a treat...it has no effect on the kitchen or the house or the world, but it means something to Tommy, it means he must bend His will to mine and that makes him better behaved and thus makes his life easier. He may or may not know that I will not love him less if he doesn't ever sit, but it is nonetheless true. So it is with us, by continually practicing to bend our will to God's we learn to worship Him fully and grow in Him, but this will bending on our behalf does not inspire God to love us more...it makes us love God more.

Okay, I believe that we should work hard to do God's will not because it helps Him but because it helps us. Then what does God want. Our belief, our love, our submission our praise our obedience. How do we do that? Or specifically, how do I do this?

In the bible there is the quote: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'” Matt 15:8. This verse from Matthew is referring to how the Pharisees had a habit of giving money that should have been going to their parents in their old age, to the temple (and from a book I learned they actually kept the land for themselves and it was only given to the temple on paper). My take on it is that, if a person does not do what is right and then fabricates excuses (the Pharisees went so far as to fabricate a law) to support themselves then it is all in vain. So with this verse (and I have no idea how I picked this one to make my decision...lol), I think I need to evaluate what is RIGHT. Is it right to seek poverty? I am just speaking from the top of my head here but I think there are certain people who would do well to seek poverty. The man who talked to Jesus about how to follow Him and Jesus told him to give up all material possessions and follow was one (Matt 19:21). But Jesus did not recommend this to everyone. In John 3, he exhorts Nicodemus to believe.

Then I have to factor in that it is not just me affected by this situation. Maybe this is an occasion for someone else in the family to learn something or heck maybe someone not in the family.

So all in all, off I go to bed to pray whether God wants me to learn obedience to take down the high place of money. Or whether God wants me to learn to trust Him completely. Or if I should be on the lookout for God working in this area and follow His lead. As I am writing this I am thinking that maybe if I give up the extras and then give that money away, I will be learning all the possible things...but did you notice what I did. I came up with a solution before I prayed and put it before God. As Smeagol said in the Lord of the Rings "Master is trixsy"

So much to learn...good thing I have an eternity!

More growth

I guess 2009 is the year for amazing growth for me.

I am learning:

• Tact (a very little bit at a time)
• How to avoid situations where I will not use tact
• How to relate better to my husband
• This is a big one, I've learned that everyone has irrational preconceptions for something
• I am learning to give myself grace. I don't feel like I am a failure as much. There are still some times when I do, but they are rare.
• I am learning to do little things to help my health

On the way back from visiting my mom, who is doing well. I was listening to a pod-cast series. It was from John Piper's podcast. The series was about Pastor as a Scholar. The first segment I listened to was D.A. Carson. Wow...no I mean WOW!! He is an incredibly intelligent man and he loves God with his whole heart, mind, soul and strength. Mind...yes we must love God with our mind. I need to open this part up. He thought that the Scholar had to ensure that they didn't go so far as to be Pharisee-ish. What I understood that it is important to keep the main thing, the main thing. God died for us and if you don't relate everything back to that it is not good. He also said that the Preacher had to keep going back to the word so that what they were saying was TRUTH. Emotion is good as long as it is directed by truth. I want to take a university course or some higher level bible study.

I then met with my sister to drive from her place to see mom. It was interesting that she was talking about spiritual gifts (charisms she called them). Hers were leadership and wisdom...yep my sister is gifted in both of those things. Then she said that she thought mine might be knowledge, not special knowledge, but knowledge of opening the scripture up to others. Oh how I would love to worship God in that fashion.

On the way home I listened to the second podcast, by John Piper about the Pastor as the Scholar. In the podcast, he talked about the people that have inspired him. I was so excited to read some books by John Piper, DA Carson and a guy named Jonathan ??? I asked hubby to write down the names because I knew I would forget them. I will look for a book by one of these guys in the Church library.