Recently, my wife and I both individually read the book Jantsen's Gift written by Pam Cope and Aimee Molloy. I bought the book at the Dollar Tree because it looked interesting and you can't really go too awfully wrong for a dollar. I won't go into detail about the book because I'm bad about making that go on seemingly forever. So, instead, I'll just say that it was a wonderful book about an average woman from Joplin, Missouri making a very over-average global impact. I recommend it to everyone.
In the autobiography, the author is giving more and more of her resources towards her mission. Despite living in her dream house, she began to feel like it wasn't necessary anymore. It wasn't necessarily guilt that was driving her to make these reassessments, but in her desire to do more and more for others, she came to realize that her large house was actually a large financial burden and large consumer of time. Their resources were limited due to the extravagance of their spending.
This book had led me to wonder some of these same things. Seeing the meme above, I almost felt some relief from these feelings that we may not have that dream house that we would like. I immediately felt like perhaps I could build that dream house guilt-free after all. But, the feeling didn't last.
I want to live correctly. Meaning, I want to live biblically. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that living biblically looks exactly the same for everyone. I'm not saying that I must sell everything that I own and give away all the proceeds. What I'm saying is that I want to be effective in what I am called to do. I doubt that I would be very effective at all in my calling if I were dirt poor. I would then spend all my time trying to feed myself and my family and wouldn't have time to be effective in my calling. What I am saying is that I want to be wary of things that are unnecessary to my calling and therefore a hindrance to me achieving the goals set out for me.
I still like the meme. But, I like it for pointing out the judgement being made on those based off of their possessions. It also seeks to point out the irony of the ones that make that judgement. Statistically speaking, households headed by conservatives give 30% more than households headed by liberals, the irony being that it tends to be the liberals who are making the socialist arguments like that found in this meme.
In the end, ones own conscience must be addressed when it comes to personal possessions and their respective calls on their lives to do for others. Personally, I don't seek the life of luxury, I don't want the life of daily financial struggle, I desire a life of effectiveness.
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