Enough Cookies For Everyone

So, I read a story today that really got me thinking & got me hurting... 

My version of the story goes something like this:

Once upon a time there were 4 kids, the Mom gave the oldest kid 6 cookies & said there are enough cookies for everyone. She then left him there with a decision, a choice to make. Clearly, there were enough cookies for everyone. But just because there were enough, even more than enough, didn't mean each sibling would get a cookie yes? Yes!

We ARE 'the kids' my brothers & sisters, the church, we have ALL the cookies,enough for everyone. Dare I say, more than enough. But has the truth of what God has called us to do permeated us to the point that we can not help but SHARE-OUR-COOKIES ???

What are you talking about with this cookie sharing nonsense?  Glad you asked for clarification. What am I trying to say is this, simply, we have more-than-enough but I don't think we really want to share out of our abundance with those that have less than nothing. Well, at least not in a way that actually costs us something.

If we are the sibling with 6 cookies here's what our giving may look like: 5 cookies for me,  1/2 of a cookie for 2 of my siblings, and zip for one or maybe a few crumbs... (not a great example but you kinda get the drift???)

Here's what I was thinking through today as I was baking & listening to the radio. I scanned the channels for some worship music and I heard "Let's count down together and on the number 1 you pick up the phone and call in your pledge (DJ commences to over-the-top countdown) 3-2-get ready, here's our # again, oh I feel like this is gonna be a huge pledge round, and  1 .... GO!!! Remember YOU keep us on the air, without you there is no WJZUS, there is no ministry, marriages will fail, teens will be depressed, kids will go without winter coats..." Serious heart felt legitimate begging to keep this station on the air. Now, don't hear what I'm not saying, I LOVE me some worship music but just roll with me on this...

Church, WHAT if we stopped being over-fed on spirituality & everything else here in America (and other over-fed countries) and began to starve ourselves a teensy (or whole lotta) bit so that 

OTHERS-MIGHT-LIVE?

I started thinking of all *we* (the majority of those who profess Christ) have in relation to those who have ABSOLUTELY nothing or as close to nothing as you can get & still stay breathing another day.

A few examples:

• Simple things like money to grab a Starbucks or Bold-Bean when the mood strikes
• Enough extra to do date-nights or girl's night out here n there
• Disney vacays OR Disney passes and multiple vacays a year
• A trip once a month or several times a week to Chic-fil-A or McD's
•  New clothes when the season changes or the kids grow(even if they are on clearance etc)
• Money to eat healthy or organic or a new diet to try out every month
• Hair cuts, hair coloring....
• Extra curricular activities for the kiddo--soccer, dance, martial arts, art or voice lessons
• Cable, Internet, Netflix....
• Extras that are pretty important, cars, multiple cars, cars that equal a house payment
• OR church stuff like buildings with A/C or rent money to pay for said building
• Church staff payrolls that  realistically could run a small country
• Church programs every-night-of-the-week, all the latest everything, a hi-def t.v. in every space, a coffee bar, rubber-bracelets with our catchy slogans, t.v. ads, insert here____what your church spends the budget on...

Think it over with me, when is our closet full enough, how many books do we need to own, how many toys can one-kid-play-with,do kids really need their own rooms, do we really need a t.v. in every room, if kids birthday parties cost more than it would take to send 5 kids to school for the year in some countries, if our family vacation costs as much as it would to feed a village for a year.... where does it stop? When do *we* have enough & put the brakes on so that-others-might-live?

I am personally doing almost every thing in my life in excess. The Reeves would not be considered rich by most in Americas standards, but I promise you the food we waste, the water we waste, the stuff we allow ourselves to indulge in, we are sitting fat!    MAJOR POINT---I am NOT saying things or doing things or enjoying things are bad or paying a church staff member;s salary is bad etc. What I am saying is, where does our being over-fed STOP & us being starved so that OTHERS-MIGHT-LIVE begin..... What are we teaching our kids about the King & His kingdom? That *we* deserve to be over-fed because we are HERE in the good ole USA & *those* people over there  deserve to go hungry/starve or watch their kids die from lack of clean drinking water or have zero education because they picked being born in the wrong country?

Darn it we deserve to listen to Christian radio & have date nights & watch our kids play soccer each week. After all we give our 10% to the church (well, let's be honest..most of us really don't). Or we will give 10% when we get our bills caught back up & for now we do give a dollar here n there to those beggars on the corner or we buy a turkey for that Thanksgiving basket. God knows our heart after all, when we moved to that bigger house or got that bigger car He knew we'd be tight for a while  .....  Really? I am just as guilty as most whom I have heard the stories from, but IF we are living in America & make more than 2 dollars a day we are among the richest on the planet. If we STILL do any of those things above (buy fast-food, take a vacation, do date nights that cost extra etc) and aren't concerned with GIVING to our God to help the least of these, have we been duped? Have we been lulled into a false sense of identity as believers by all the 'feel good' messages preached in our churches "I'm OK--You're OK"  "We are all just doing the best we can, God wants you to pay all your bills 1st & give the left-overs to Him" & "He WANTS you to be RICH, just give to our ministry and you will be BLESSED".or  "Every day is a Friday..."? Have we bought into consumerism and all-about-me-ism hook line & sinker and totally thrown out all the verses/passages/stories in HIS Word about what PURE RELIGION actually is, or what TRUE FASTING really looks like? OR crazy ideas like  that widows mite---giving lavishly out of her poverty? What if we are mostly just getting fatter & fatter & fatter while we contentedly cover our eyes to the others who are wasting away??? Do we really LOVE God & keep MOST of 'our stuff/money/time' & feel pretty darn good about that wee bit we share or begrudgingly give... And think about all this in terms of EVERYTHING, not just your moola....what about your time, your schedule, your days off, your stuff... Is it REALLY ours once we bet the farm on the TRUTH? Haven't we agreed to live counter-culturally? Shouldn't our lives look more like Jesus' who had no place to lay his head? I'm just asking for me because when I roll over in bed and complain because a child has crawled into my bed and stolen my cover..my next thought is of the orphan-head-of-household who is raising his younger siblings and sleeps on the bare ground each night. These thoughts keep me up at night right now, just being honest. I want God to ask me hard questions and I want to want to give Him the right answers...  "Whenever you've done it to the LEAST OF THESE, you've done it to me..."  Am I so full of me, mine, ours that I am missing Him? Missing those He put me here to see....

We keep most of the cookies & share a bite or two or maybe some crumbs...

What if we saw the plight of the orphan & widow, the hungry, the oppressed, the heartbroken, those in bondage, those with no cleaning water, no indoor plumbing, the sick...the LEAST-OF-THESE... the way those DJ's saw the need to stay on the air. Those jokers are DESPERATE to raise money, they talk like the world end if they don't get that 10000. dollars THIS hour to get THAT matching grant.. WHAT if we, those who profess to LOVE God started living in a way that TRULY cost us something? Why stop at 10% as your benchmark for giving, that's Old Testament Old School anyhow right? Why don't we get CRAZY & just ask the Spirit of God what He wants from us? Isn't it really about a LOVE relationship with Him anyways? Believing in the depths of our being we are here as part of a much-bigger-plan. No one should give begrudgingly right? Shouldn't we WANT TO pour into the kingdom of God? Wasn't our rescue from darkness to Light worth it? Don't we want to see others rescue????  Don't we want to live out the WHOLE Gospel & not just some life of half-way religion? Are we in a LOVE relationship with God or are we in a rules-based, what's the minimum He requires from me check-list??? I know I am GUILTY of living an over-fed life, I am GUILTY of teaching that to my kids... Is there blood on my hands? I think yes. I am not writing this to condemn, I am just putting thoughts & questions out there and seeking feedback....

"Where your treasure is--that's where your heart is"

Is He really my treasure? 

And do I want to be a part of His lavish-love-rescue-plan?

Reading Ann Voskamp's latest blog this morning is where all this came from, she is truly a prophetic voice to America in my humble opinion...  PLEASE.READ.HER.BLOG. She says all of what I am trying to say (& way more) much more eloquently and beautifully.

From her blog today...

“God gives the world enough of what it needs. All He asks is that we distribute what He gives.”

We know it, North American Church: Unless we distribute the manna, too many of us we will eat the maggots of too much and even more will eat the gnawing weevil of too little — and all of us will die."

 http://www.aholyexperience.com/2014/10/what-the-north-american-church-is-the-most-hungry-for/ 

God,   

Have You really given us all more than enough? What do You require? 

Show us... 

Teach us...

Lead us... 

Forgive us..

May we begin to feel how overstuffed we are & see the starvation around us and then may we move into action..

CHANGE US OH GOD

May my words here honor You Lord and be received in the way I intend them... 

 "When you give God your leftovers, you give God what you can afford to give and not what changes how you live." AV

 Could we really ever out-give God & what He has done for us?

More food for thought can be found in the book The Hole in Our Gospel & Radical among other amazing books.

Oh & yes, if you feel led to just share/help  those on your 'home-soil' because "We have people starving right here & kids that need homes!"  I say this, A. JUMP on it and  B. Let me know how it radically changes your life :) Everyone has a purpose, a mission, a call to sacrificially live..I bet Jesus, the Spirit of God will point the way/where to yours!