"John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, 'You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father." For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.'
'What should we do then?' the crowd asked.
John answered, 'Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.'” [luke3.7-11]
How many shirts do I have? Well, I haven't counted, but it's more than two. And how many jackets and coats do I have? More than two. That means I have enough to spare.
I finally heard what the Bible had been saying all this time, what John had been preaching for two millennia--- and Jesus convicted me to radically change the way that I spend money on clothing.
(Now that I'm willing to simply hear Jesus speak this message, I hope I'm enabled to better receive the Jesus of the Message.)
5 comments:
Thanks for posting this! I need to take stock as well and make some changes involving even more than shirts.
This has always been a difficult prayer for me, "What should we do then?" Sharing is imparting part of your soul. I am selfish. God can't deal with selfishness.
Great post!
This reminds me of a song we used to sing as kids, "I have two __________ and you have none, I'll share my _______ so you'll have some." (well, I'm not for sure on that last part.) And you would just fill in the blank with whatever it was. In this case, it's shirts. :) I like this whole idea, and hope to get better at it as well.
Teach me that song, Andrea!
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