hard to swallow

1 John 3:17 asks, “If anyone has material possessions and sees someone in need, but has no pity on them, how can God's love be in him?”

What a hard verse to swallow.

It really hits me right between the eyes, as if it were meant for me. Every time I read this verse, I think of my multiple pairs of shoes, of my closet full of clothes, the food just sitting in my freezer, of my monthly extra spending money, etc.

Granted there are some things you can't live without, but when it comes to all the extra stuff lying around, I have plenty of it that I don't even use.

I wrote a blog entry a while back about asking God's spirit to guide me when confronted with homelessness, that God would speak to me on a case-by-case basis to know what He wants me to do in the moment. But I think part of the concrete truth is that we live in a world of excess and sometimes the answer is quite simple: share your stuff and give away what you don't really need.

Read it again for effect: If anyone has material possessions and sees someone in need, but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in him?

Oof! It's like a kick to the stomach thinking about how much extra junk I could live without and giving all of that stuff away. It aches even more when I compare the excess in my life to what the needy actually go without.

Why do we love our stuff so much? Even the stuff we don't even think about? I don't have an aswer for you there. I have a bunch of clothes that I haven't worn in a year, but they are so difficult to get rid of (you probably do too).

But if I think about it for a second: On the other hand, I get excited thinking about giving stuff away or living a life marked by sharing. This would be living life on the edge, on the edge where I trust God with my possessions knowing that he is the great provider. Trusting God enough to share even when there doesn't seem to be enough to go around. Now that is life on the edge, life to the fullest.

Isn't it weird how sharing or giving things away give us a sort of high on life? Have you noticed that?

One time I gave away my expensive sleeping bag to a homeless dude on the streets of Portland. It was a cold winter night and he even tricked me into believing it was his birthday (maybe it was actually his birthday). Shortly after talking with him, I decided to give him my sleeping bag. I didn't have another sleeping bag, but I realized he needed it badly, way more than I did (he didn't even know I had a sleeping bag in the trunk). It was one of the stupidest things I've done in the eyes of materialism or natural selection, but I felt like I should give him my sleeping bag, so I did. I felt a weird happiness afterward just thinking about how I overcame selfishness and did an absurd act of putting someone else's needs before my own desires. God bless that homeless man, wherever he is. This left me feeling happy, not empty.

Allow me to switch gears for just a sec.

Sometimes I also like to think about how God provides for people regardless of whether we choose to help them out. The thing about it that blows my mind is that when we engage someone in need and show them God's love through sharing or giving, then we are the ones that end up being changed. I believe that God would have provided according to his perfect plan either way, but he lets us jump in to take part in it, and this is life-altering for us. God never forces us to love each other, but when we do, we are better off for it.

Now when the rubber meets the road: what do I do with all that extra stuff I don't need? I go home and I give it all away. It's not like its being used anyway. Someone else can put those clothes to use instead of letting the moths have a thanksgiving feast in my closet.

Ok that seemed simple enough: but then what do I do with all the stuff I use regularly and can't give away? I should be a good steward of it and hold it loosely enough in my hands that when someone else needs it, I can share it with them.

Someone that embodies this bible verse is mother Theresa who believed in living without excess at the same level of poverty as the people she strived to serve (this was in order to show the people that she was at their side no matter what). At one point she was eating only water and rice just like the poorest around her, but then was told by her higher-ups in the catholic hierarchy that she could not do this because the lack of essential nutrients and vitamins would soon have her falling prey to the same diseases and nutritional deficiencies the poor suffered from and then what good would that do? She agreed to honor their requests but then added that she would then eat only what was necessary, no more, no less.

I am not endorsing a life of poverty for every person that is a follower of Jesus, but if I truly call myself a follower of Jesus, it is important to hold loosely to the material things of this world and tightly to the one who actually created all things. For none of all this junk, even if I had a million times more, will bring me lifetime happiness... only God can do that. And just maybe I can help spread that happiness by sharing and giving. What do you say?