A few weeks ago, a friend invited me to go hear Jen Hatmaker speak at a local church – of course I jumped at the chance. Jen loves Jesus, has adopted two kiddos from Ethiopia, and has a heart for the poor and the orphan. All things that are right up my ally.
As I sat listening to Jen speak, I was reminded that her book “7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess.” was sitting on my iPad halfway finished. (It’s hard to finish a book these days…) Since I’ve been feeling God tug at my heart lately about my spending habits, I decided it was time to pick up where I left off in the book.
Sidenote: I had stopped reading at Month Five, which was all about waste and recycling, blah, blah, blah…. John and I started recycling a few months ago. We sort our plastic, glass, aluminum cans, paper and do our part to be better keepers of the earth.
There’s one thing about me that makes me so NOT earth friendly: my love for Sonic and a good ol’ Dr Pepper in a Styrofoam cup. So I about peed my pants when I read this quote from Jen’s book in Month 5. Her friend Becky says:
“Although I recycle so much more, there are four thousand ways I can live more green. One thing is sure: my carbon footprint will always lead back to Sonic until some tree-hugging hippie discovers a non-Styrofoam vehicle to deliver the icy perfection that is the Sonic soda. Sorry, planet.”
Okay, back to the real reason for this blog (the Sonic drink debacle is not why I’m writing). I have come up with my own little version of 7 in light of my poor and unwise spending habits. Drum roll please…..
Why I Need to Spend Less and Ask God to Deal With This Issue ONCE. AND. FOR. ALL
1. To Honor God. PERIOD! My spending has not been honoring to Him. I must be a better steward of what He has given me. It’s not about me. It’s about using what He has given me to further His kingdom.
Jen says, “How will I answer for my choices when God confronts them one day? With this much expendable income funding restaurants, shoes stores, and movie theaters, I doubt Jesus will accept my excuses for neglecting the poor on account of cash flow.”
2. Out of Respect for John. My husband works so hard to provide for our family so that I can stay home with our Little Man. I have got to ease his anxiety instead of adding to it. I can’t be eating all the bacon as soon as he brings it home!
3. Save Money So I Can Use It the Way God Intends – to help the poor, the widow and the orphan…
Jen says, “What if I joined a different movement, one that was less enticed by luxuries and more interested in justice?”
4. We Want to Adopt Again (And Guess What? That Costs Moo la!)
5. I Don’t Want Jackson to Be Like Me – I want him to find contentment in Jesus. Period.
6. To Be An Example to Certain People in Our Lives, who we pray will find their hope in Christ and Christ Alone.
7. To Be Closer to God – so much “stuff” clutters my life and turns my focus to the things of this world and away from the Lord.
Jen says, “Just because I can have it doesn’t mean I should…So we spend, spend; amass, amass; indulge item by item, growing increasingly deaf to Jesus who described a simple life marked by generosity and under-consumption.”
There you have it! The seven reasons why I must let Jesus destroy this area of my life. I’m sure He’s about to get all up in my business even more – I just started Jen’s book “Interrupted” – Yea, God is up to stuff. 🙂
I enjoyed today’s post! I may check into that book. I love living simple these days without all the extras; however, I’m sure there is some more “cleaning up” I could do.
This is awesome! I really want to read that book, too! 🙂 So proud of you, girl!
This was really great! We cut back on our spending as well. It is rather freeing to not feel like we have to keep up w/ Jones’s! Go Jen and go God!
LOVE me some Jen Hatmaker. : ) you go girl.