Jason.Brooks.Stansel

I was just encouraged by a friend’s post about consumerism, and a few thoughts came to mind.

We live in a culture permeated by things, greed, and competition. I can’t help but think it is our duty to pull out of the race and sprint towards the Lord. I can’t help but think, also, that this takes us being consciously aware of the value of a simple life.

It’s funny how easy it is to say that when I have this ridiculous phone coming to me in the mail tomorrow and I have no problem spending 14 dollars one meal. So, in the lines that follow, just know that I am speaking more to myself here than to you.

Richard Foster wrote a book called “Celebration of Discipline” that has a chapter on simplicty, and I remember it really forced me to think. The chapter talks about the obsession Americans have with owning everything and how we must earn and buy and consume as much as possible. But isn’t a simple life a better life? Isn’t it better to be freed from that obsession with things? I have to believe that it is possible to be free enough to say “No!” to Zaxby’s three times a week, “No!” to the iPhone and Blackberry, “No!” to Ralph Lauren and J. Crew. There was a time when I would say it was OK to have expensive and nice things, but now I’m not so sure. I feel like as Christians, we must be counter-cultural to the mess we see around us. What does that look like? How can we obtain that?

I will get my Storm tomorrow and be excited and I will take pictures and post them on here, so just know that…but I don’t do it without questioning my heart. And that is the key. No, I don’t guess it is wrong to own the newest blackberry…but it is worth asking yourself if it hurts God.

ALSO today I was in my 9:00am class, where everyone seems to think I’m psycho, and had a discussion about God’s grace. We were talking about one of our required readings, The Shack, and how a few people thought they book “failed doctrinally” because the main character was not shown enough of his own sin [I disagreed with that; I thought he was shown as much as he needed to be shown, but that's another post]. The question, here, is about how far grace extends, I think, and what does God’s perfect grace look like.

Here’s what I think: I always feel like I’m not good enough. I never feel like I have it right. I don’t need to be reminded. So, just like in Mack’s case [from the Shack...read it, it will change your life], I need God to show me that he keeps no record of wrongs. That he loves me unconditionally. That I cannot earn his grace and acceptance.

I just have it.

And that makes all the difference.