"I believe that spiritual maturity is not the ability to see the extraordinary, but the ability to see the ordinary through God's eyes. Consequently, no matter how wonderful our experience or encounter is with God, the test of it's worth is in the fruit it bears in our lives and the lives of others. "
- Frank Viola

Friday, March 27, 2009

Points to Ponder Before This Sunday....

How important do we really think simplicity is?

We have been running around saying phrases such as "Live simply that others may simply live" and "There's enough for everyone's need, not for everyone's greed". And discussing how, as Americans, we have a ridiculous overabundance of resources and luxury as compared to the poverty of the rest of the world. It is obvious that the earth cannot sustain our overconsumption and the gospel doesn't stand for us doing so on the backs of poverty stricken third world countries. Nik and I would like to really discuss this more. Here's a not-comprehensive list of questions to consider:

  1. What specifically is our responsiblity in living out simplicity according to the Scripture?
  2. What can we cut out of our lives right away?
  3. What goals should we set for the future?
  4. What does living simply say about debt?
  5. What are examples of things we can share as a group? (I.e. buying items in bulk together at Cosco, car pooling, book swapping, mending torn clothing, sharing tools)

1 comment:

  1. Dude, fixing shoes, sharing the kill from a hunt, sharing a deep freeze...what great ideas Stetsons! Would love to know what you guys come up with in Scripture in relation to simplicity. There's some good early church writings about that, too, if you can scrounge it up. check out www.ccel.org for some great resources on early church fathers and whatnot (maybe even some early church mothers...LOL...). Missed your call this afternoon; call us at the farm if you have the number; I'll shoot you an email. Love you guys!

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