This is from Burk Parsons, editor of Tabletalk magazine:
"Several years after my father's death in 1992 I found an old shoebox among my father's belongings. Among the various items in the shoebox, I came across a stack of letters that my father had written just prior to his death. As I began to read the first letter I quickly realized he had written them to me but that he never had the opportunity to give them to me because his cancer consumed his body more quickly than the oncologist had expected. In one of the letters, my father wrote, "Learn to live with a little less."
I have never forgotten that admonition, and having often wondered what made my father's generation different from my own, I have come to the following conclusions: My father's generation knew what it was like to live with a little less. My generation always seems to need just a little more. .... My generation is consumed with consumption. It is the generation of entitlement, instant gratification, and expediency. My generation has no understanding of what our fathers and forefathers fought for, what they sacrificed, and how much they gave of their time, money, and resources.
This is not just an issue about money but about how we worship God as stewards of all that He has entrusted to us as we live before His face each and every day. Nevertheless, we must never forget that it is the love of money that is "a root of all kinds of evils" (1 Tim 6:10). In his book Respectable Sins, Jerry Bridges, one from among my father's generation, writes, "If money wins out in our lives, it is not God but we who lose. Ultimately, God does not need our money. If we spend it on ourselves, it is we who become spiritual paupers" (p.169). -Burk Parsons, associate minister at Saint Andrew's in Sanford Florida.
Rich Mullins sang one of his very first songs back in 1989 that said this:
"Everybody I know says they need just one thing
And what they really mean is that they need just one thing more
And everybody seems to think they've got it coming
Well I know that I don't deserve You
Still I want to love and serve You more and more
You're my one thing"
5 comments:
Yes. That's a good way to live....with less.
It benefits so many more people when we ourselves learn to live with less....
Thanks Don.
I really want to learn this lesson of "less is more".
Thanks Chris. Lord bless.
The concept of "less is more" is more a design concept...than a way of life concept, I believe. ;)
However - living with less is certainly a way of life.
Have you seen this post of mine?
Perspective.
And some of my other thoughts on Kingdom Economics 101.
Those few words would make a big difference if people would read them and learn the lesson.
Your so spot on Craver. I think the learning would have to start with learning to trust Christ. I find material things, and mammon, are sought after when we're not trusting Jesus.
If we seek His kingdom and goodness FIRST, then all these things will be added.
But even if they are not added, we won't care, because we will have the food for our souls of doing the will of our Savior and God.
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