Self-Denial
We recently received the publicity for Self-Denial Missionary Appeal
The slogan this year is “Stick up for people in need! Stick your money in here, please! Give it up for the Lord!
Be warned this is a bit of a ramble but this raises for me again the whole subject of how we handle our material wealth. I have to admit I am more than a little uncomfortable with some of the things that are suggested we give up, a week’s wages, chocolate biscuits, tea, newspapers or whatever else we can think of. It’s not that I am unwilling to give any of those things up. It’s rather that whilst I can choose which luxury to give up, many of my fellow Salvationists around the world will be wondering about which basic necessity they will have to do without this week. And let’s face it might be more realistic for some Salvationists to replace items like chocolate, newspapers and tea with the villa in Spain, the second car, the widescreen TV and the dishwasher, for there to be any real sacrifice involved.
I’m not just having a go at others. In 2000 we inherited a moderate amount of money that we have committed to be used mainly for the education of our daughters to prevent them getting into student debt, but it still feels like a luxury to have that cushion of security in the bank. Even though we don’t touch it to live on day to day I can still see areas of my life where I should live more simply and sacrificially.
And before anyone asks I’m sorting it. But there are all kinds of dilemmas you face like how to buy a simple thing like a skirt, or my weekly groceries ethically. What’s the difference between being responsible and being mean? When are material blessings something we should accept as a gift from God and enjoy them and when should we deny ourselves?
How do we stop ourselves getting so wound up with it all that we become sour faced, pious and boring?
So, what about Self Denial Appeal? Is it wrong to still have it? No I don’t think so but we surely have to close the wideness of the gap between our luxury and the majority of the world’s poverty by taking a hard look at how we live our lives every day. So that when we do come to the annual focus on missionary giving what we actually give is a sacrifice not what is at present for many of us the cream off the top of a very rich pie.
Wouldn’t the Self-Denial Missionary Appeal be the place to begin living differently all the year round.
God bless
Carol
We recently received the publicity for Self-Denial Missionary Appeal
The slogan this year is “Stick up for people in need! Stick your money in here, please! Give it up for the Lord!
Be warned this is a bit of a ramble but this raises for me again the whole subject of how we handle our material wealth. I have to admit I am more than a little uncomfortable with some of the things that are suggested we give up, a week’s wages, chocolate biscuits, tea, newspapers or whatever else we can think of. It’s not that I am unwilling to give any of those things up. It’s rather that whilst I can choose which luxury to give up, many of my fellow Salvationists around the world will be wondering about which basic necessity they will have to do without this week. And let’s face it might be more realistic for some Salvationists to replace items like chocolate, newspapers and tea with the villa in Spain, the second car, the widescreen TV and the dishwasher, for there to be any real sacrifice involved.
I’m not just having a go at others. In 2000 we inherited a moderate amount of money that we have committed to be used mainly for the education of our daughters to prevent them getting into student debt, but it still feels like a luxury to have that cushion of security in the bank. Even though we don’t touch it to live on day to day I can still see areas of my life where I should live more simply and sacrificially.
And before anyone asks I’m sorting it. But there are all kinds of dilemmas you face like how to buy a simple thing like a skirt, or my weekly groceries ethically. What’s the difference between being responsible and being mean? When are material blessings something we should accept as a gift from God and enjoy them and when should we deny ourselves?
How do we stop ourselves getting so wound up with it all that we become sour faced, pious and boring?
So, what about Self Denial Appeal? Is it wrong to still have it? No I don’t think so but we surely have to close the wideness of the gap between our luxury and the majority of the world’s poverty by taking a hard look at how we live our lives every day. So that when we do come to the annual focus on missionary giving what we actually give is a sacrifice not what is at present for many of us the cream off the top of a very rich pie.
Wouldn’t the Self-Denial Missionary Appeal be the place to begin living differently all the year round.
God bless
Carol
posted by Rehoboth at
9:57 AM
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