Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

• 2 Corinthians 9:6-8

“Our Lord emptied Himself and had nothing all the days of His earthly life, consequently He was free for God to lavish His gifts through Him to others. Think of the rushes with which we come in front of our Heavenly Father; whenever we see an occasion we rush in and say, ‘I can do this, you need not trouble God.’ I wonder if we are learning determinedly to possess nothing? It is possessing things that makes us so conceited- ‘Oh yes, I can give prayer for you; I can give this and that for you.’ We have to get to the place about which Jesus talked to the rich young ruler where we are so absolutely empty and poor that we have nothing, and God knows we have nothing, then He can do through us what He likes. Would that we would quickly get rid of all we have, give it away till there is nothing left, then there is a chance for God to pour through in rivers for other people.”

• Oswald Chambers, Daily Thoughts for Disciples (February 5, from If Thou Wilt be Perfect)

I have heard people say that God is ready to give us great gifts, but we have our hands full, and He does not want to add to our burdens.  We have to let go of the pride.  Notice that in the quote, Rev. Chambers has statements that start with “I can…”  Sure, God gives us certain abilities, but when we are so proud of our abilities, we forget where those abilities came from.

Sometimes, it is physical possessions.  I have physical possessions by the single house full.  The house is loaded down with stuff that my son will simply throw away.  He will not waste his time (in his view) to try to find something useful, nostalgic, or remarkable.  He has all he needs and much of what he wants now.  Why add clutter?  Why take the time to discover the worth in someone else’s junk.

Note the word “junk.”  George Carlin was far from a pastor, but he preached sermons in many of his comedy routines.  In the one about “Stuff”, he says that we have stuff, but when we go on vacation, we pack a few bags with a portion of our stuff.  We then visit a friend’s house.  He let’s us stay in a room, but the room is filled with the friend’s junk.  You have to move the junk out of the way before you can unload your bag with your stuff in it.  Of course, Carlin did not say “junk”, but we move on.  Notice how your stuff is stuff, but your friend’s stuff is junk.

And there is the rub.  Our stuff is only stuff to us.  That could be physical stuff, mental stuff, whatever.

If you are wanting to go on a mission trip for a year, but you are wondering where to store your household goods, so you do not go on the trip, then your stuff is in the way of doing what God may want you to do.

I have known people that lived within ten miles of where they were born.  No, let me correct that in that at least one or two people that I know have never been further than five miles from their original home, except when they were born in a hospital about fifteen miles away.  Maybe great treasures await them twenty miles down the road.

And to clarify those “holers” – meaning they decided that home was there, and they dug a hole and live in it.  These people have a car.  They could explore, but where they were born is God’s Country.  Who would ever leave God’s Country?  They live in a delusion, in that if they ever went somewhere else for maybe a year, and then returned, they might not recognize their home.  I have returned to the town where I was born many times, and I get disoriented.  But I lived there eighteen years…  But none of those years in the past fifty years, only to visit.  Houses are torn down and now there is one big house where there used to be three smaller houses.  That messes with your mind, unless you lived across the street and you got used to the new scenery, a little change each day.

I am not saying that you have to move to glorify God, but you have to empty yourselves of the inhibitions to witness for God, restrictions in movement, types of friends, food that you have never tried before, and other things where you might draw a line.  By the way, my worst culinary experience was sea cucumber, not a vegetable at all, believe me.  I did it once.  I took one for the Gipper.  I do not have to do it again.

But most of our emptying so that God can give us something better is mental.  We think of our “home” as God’s Country.  We may not like trying new things.  We may have heard an old wives’ tale from some old maiden aunt, and we believed it.  But that wives’ tale is not in the Bible, and if we thought it through, it might not even make sense.

When we hear God’s calling, Isaiah said it best, “Here am I. Send me.”  Nothing else needs to be part of our answer.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.