Fluff and Stuff
"Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?... But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:25-27/33.
Life has a lot of fluff. The good old advertisers will have us buying all kinds of fluff we really would be happy without. Fluff flies away, it breaks down and gets lost. The good stuff stays, it grows, feeds and nourishes.
Isn't it interesting that the more gadgets we get to make life easier, the more complicated and busy life seems to get? A simple commune with a vege patch, cow and pig often seems more appealing than the neon life of the big smoke. Our lives are clogged with toxins that slowly kill our joy and stunt our growth. This man-made madness is out of control. We are called to be different.
This Christmas we remember God's baby delivered in a shed and laid in a feed box. We remember God's son who grew up to be a wandering nomad with one aim; to bring salvation by showing God to man. He had no home or favourite pillow. Jesus had no possessions, he was fed by heaven. He was so in sync with God that there were no worries, only desperate compassion for those without a saviour. In our humanity we are caught up in the worries of everyday life and forget to put on our eternity glasses. Read the story of the madman in Mark 5: 1-20. It is incredible that the main concern of the witnesses of this miracle was the financial toll it took on the pigs' owner and Jesus was asked to leave. How often do the tangible worries of the daily grind drive us to ask Jesus to leave?
True faith requires sacrifice. It asks us to take seriously the words of Jesus and not to worry. Sacrifice your right to worry. Faith asks us to align our priorities with those of Jesus; seek first his kingdom. Think of a child holding her father's hand. Her eyes are locked on the face of her beloved daddy. She reads the expression in his eyes and she knows she is safe. That is faith; believing the faithfulness of daddy God who promises to provide all our needs.
Faith is more than a thought or a belief. It is action, often requiring risk. Knowing the Bible is the first step to a life of action. These words were made to be lived out; "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." (James 1:22). It is a faithful move to cut out the fluff in life. There is so much pressure to keep up with the activities of others to escape rejection. It is faithful to say 'No' to fluff and 'Yes' to less glamorous but more nutritious stuff. It is faithful to look after the poor, to put family before money and make time to be still before God. All these acts of faith are courageous as they require sacrifice. God has written the handbook of life to bring salvation in heaven and on earth. His heart is for things of substance. He longs for His people to stand up and be lights on a hill. A people whose yes is yes and no, no. Imagine the body of Christ, unified and active in their faith. A body that is busy with eternal activity, who have God's eyes on earth. If we could just know how God sees situations. Are we missing the miracles by worrying about the cost of the pigs? Think of the freedom Jesus walked in as he sought first God's kingdom. Imagine not worrying about the safety of your kids, or your maxxed out credit card or your future spouse. Imagine intimately knowing the creases on God's face and the kindness in his eyes. Next time you go to pray, picture yourself as that little girl in the arms of a loving daddy. Speak to God as you would to such a father.
The journey of faith is one of simply looking into the Father's eyes obeying and trusting. It is cutting the fluff and enjoying days full of integrity, peace and freedom. This is God's heart for His people and he will give us all we need to embrace this life if we choose it.
