Excess

I don’t have drawers here, just a giant wardrobe without any shelves. If you open it up it you will often find a mound of clothes. Some folded, some not, some clean, some not. Tonight I couldn’t look at the pile anymore so I put it all on my bed and folded it. I brought about half of my clothes to Africa- mainly my summer stuff. As I was folding I kept folding shirt after shirt that I had never worn here. I brought 5 pairs of knee length shorts that still have the tags on them…sorry mom. I have about 5 outfits that I always wear, and apart from those items the rest just sit in my closet. Couple tonight’s epiphany of “Becca has far too much” with the fact that I am reading the book Radical and you have a very convicted girl.

I don’t really have a plan to go out tonight and just give shirts to homeless people or a shelter. I don’t know what I will do but I just have this overwhelming sense and awareness of the excess in my life that I don’t need or want at this point.

I know this is not some new revolutionary idea that Americans have too much but I challenge you to take all your clothes out, put them on your bed, and then fold them all. It’s a humbling thing to look at piles of money in the form of clothes that you probably don’t need.

A passage from David Platt’s, “Radical”

“Am I willing to live a life that is content with food and clothing, having the basic necessities of my life provided for? Or do I want more? … Do I want to indulge in more and more luxuries in my life? After all what’s wrong with luxuries? This is a key question, and if we are not careful in how we answer it, we will miss the point of what God desires us to teach us about our possessions. We don’t need to sell or give away nice clothes, nice cars, nice houses, or surplus possessions because they are inherently bad. As we have seen, wealth and possessions are not inherently evil; they are good in and of themselves. So we don’t sell them or give them away because they are sinful. …We sell them and give them away because Christ in us compels us to care for the needy around us.

…

The reality is that most everything in our lives in the American culture would be classified as a luxury, not a necessity. The point we can learn is that our perspective on our possessions radically changes when we open our eyes to the needs of the world around us. When we have the courage to look in the faces of brothers and sisters whose bodies are malnourished and whose brains are deformed because they have no food, Christ will change our desires, and we will long to sacrifice our resources for the glory of his name among them.”

Woah. Amen and Amen.

Go read this book, take a look at your life, and ask Jesus to reveal the blind spots in your life that are full of pure excess!