Day 6 of the Stewardship Devotional CULTURE VERSUS KINGDOM SPENDING Read: Acts 2: 38-47 “They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.” Acts 2:45 (The Message) In the spring of 2012, several of our women’s groups studied 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker. This book caused each participant to wrestle with seven common cultural excesses: food, clothes, possessions, media, waste, shopping/spending, and stress. Look at clothing, for example. How many articles of clothing do you own? If you estimated the cost of each item at $20, then how much would your wardrobe be worth? How many of those items do you actually wear on a regular basis? Is it possible that there’s some excess there? I would guess that some of you even have items that still have tags on them, but you’ve never worn! Would we be willing to donate our excess clothes to those who need them? And/or would we be willing to stop buying clothes and other things we don’t really need so that we can give the money to a brother or sister who does need basic necessities? The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, certainly would have bought into the ideas presented in 7. In fact, he lived well below his means so that he could buy food for prisoners, pay teachers to educate children, and buy fabric so that women could clothe their families. He truly believed in meeting the needs of others and lived out that belief on a daily basis. Thought for the Day: “Live simply so others may simply live.” Mother Teresa Prayer: O Holy Spirit, convict us for our excesses when we should be helping others. Amen. Cindy Shelton
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 12:00:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015