Radical Abandonment

I mentioned the other day I would start collecting a bag of things to part with each day for 30 days. One of my goals when we started the Buy Nothing New Challenge was to give more. By gathering the things we don’t need I can give more to the needy. Now that it is 5 days into the month I thought I should update and let you know that I am actually doing rather well collecting and donating items. This is a fabulous, organized way to get rid of clutter around your house. It may seem daunting to say “I need to clean my whole house” or “my entire basement,” but broken into small areas like hall closet, car trunk, medicine cabinet or kid’s bookshelf, you will find it much easier to rid your space of the things you don’t need. This is also a great way to redefine necessities and luxuries.

Okay while it is great that we are giving more and de-cluttering, we aren’t really doing anything out of the ordinary or particularly generous or noble. In fact, look at the way I said we are “gathering the things we don’t need.” We are just giving what is comfortable for us to give. I think I have mentioned before that I am reading Radical by David Platt. I’m about halfway through and while I am not certain I agree with everything he says he makes many very interesting points and if you get the chance it’s definitely worth reading. He puts the hammer down on people like me who give what is comfortable and encourages giving until it is uncomfortable. Then we could learn to seek comfort in Christ and not in material wealth.

Platt acknowledges a so called “blind spot” in his life that many other Americans also have. The Bible asks us “What did we bring into the world? Nothing! What can we take out of the world? Nothing! So then, if we have food and clothes, that should be enough for us. But those who want to get rich fall into the temptation and are caught in the trap of many foolish and harmful desires, which pull them down to ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil. Some have been so eager to have it that they have wandered away from the faith and have broken their hearts with many sorrows (1 Timothy 6:7-10). Here I am guilty of exactly what Platt criticizes so many American Christians of doing. So many times I have read this and thought not of myself but of CEO’S, people living in mega mansions and those driving around Porsches and Hummers. But I am no less guilty. I have and desire much more than just food and clothes. I should not want because things and materials are evil but Platt suggests  I should not want so that I can spend my excesses on the poor and needy around me. He encourages us to “begin operating under the idea that God has given us excess, not so we could have more but so we could give more (pg. 127).”

I am happy to give my things away, but here is where I question Platt. I don’t think that everyone’s excess in the world would help those who are living in poverty, or maybe it would, but for how long. Money, food, clean drinking water and medical care are short term answers. Even coupled with a gospel lesson, these things are not the answer to sustaining civilization.

I do however applaud Platt for looking critically at the church in America. Why start so small as ourselves though? Sure a lot could be done if every individual gave our excesses; like I said before I don’t think we’d cure world hunger but we could provide sustenance for many. I like how Platt, a mega church pastor himself, criticizes the mega churches in our country and the ones that strive for bigger buildings with more programs and activities. The church buildings of today are often multi million dollar complexes with state of the art technology and elaborately decorated interiors. But isn’t it easy to see how hypocritical it is for us to spend that kind of money for our own comforts while millions of people are starving and yet we are proud of ourselves when we raise a couple thousand dollars to send for relief? Wouldn’t we be much more effective in helping the poor and sending more people to far off places to teach the gospel if we used only what we needed to survive?

 As you can probably tell I am not at all concise so here is a fantastic snippet of Radical by David Platt himself, Radical synopsis. I am also not pretending to understand much of the Bible or even what Platt suggests but I do like the way he makes us look at ourselves and our churches critically so that we can help the most people and do the most with what we have. I also truly appreciate the human side of Platt. Radical is completely convicting but it still gives us hope. It would be a lot more discouraging without Platt admitting that he too is human. He concedes “that the war against materialism in our hearts is exactly that: a war.” He continues, “it is a constant battle to resist the temptation to have more luxuries, to acquire more stuff and to live more comfortably” and “it requires strong and steady resolve to live out the gospel in the middle of an American dream that identifies success as moving up the ladder, getting the bigger house, purchasing the nicer car, buying the better clothes, eating the finer food and acquiring more things (pg 136).”

Platt makes us take an uncomfortable look at the way we view our wealth. He calls the way we spend our money a “barometer of our spiritual condition” and an “indicator of our eternal destination (pg. 138).” So I’m under no allusions that because I’m giving a couple of bags away that I have reserved for myself a spot of eternal salvation but I am happy to be eliminating excess and happy to share the book Radical with others.