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Being Available
What does it really mean: in this day and time and place, to be ready to say that you’ll do anything for God? (At this point I’m imagining all of the disappointed sighs of the beautiful Christian single women who had hoped that the title was referring to something else. Of course, in my imagination is the only place where that’ll happen) Because at the moment, I’m on the verge of committing to a 3 year course and thinking about buying a house and the mortgage that comes with it. What if God wants to shake that all up and tell me to throw it in and head to deepest darkest Africa (which is always the concern)? To what extent should we be making out lives more flexible in order that we can get up off our bums and “Take up your cross and follow me”?
It’s a conversation that I’ve had with my mum more than anyone else – she’s pushing the idea that it would be smart to own a house as soon as possible, and actually that it would set me up for a church planting situation later – having a house is a nice thing that (presuming you’ve paid off most of the mortgage) actually allows a little bit of flexibility down the track in terms of not having the financial constraints (and I suppose other constraints) of rent. And there might be some validity in that argument. But the revolutionary in me (who I’m really starting to see a bit more of) starts saying but what if it’s about the now or almost now, rather than the later. What if God wants me to drop everything tomorrow? What if I’m locking myself in to something that’ll just end up being an unbreakable leash?
This is the part where you’d just love it if God went “here, this is the plan from now to finish and here’s what you need to do to get there”. A lot less exciting, but a lot less messy too. I guess that’s just the package deal. You take God and you put up with the messiness and the excitement and the fear and the constant wondering about whether or not you’re doing the right thing and the second guessing. Maybe it’s just a seeking and trusting thing.
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6 Comments
One of the most freeing things my father said to me was that ‘i would always have a roof over my head and food to eat’ The house and mortage thing just fell in my lap.
Watch out for the three year course thing though….
if you don’t go over the top with a mortgage it can really work for you – you could still go to deepest darkest Africa and pop someone else into your house to pay the mortgage for you… I am not sure if God often leads us in straight lines unfortunately…
Thanks guys, appreciate the input. I can certainly see the validity in what you’re saying. And in lots of ways it does make a lot of sense. And there’s certainly a big part of me that wants the security of having a house that will be there and the niceness of that type arrangement. I guess part of it for me at the moment is trying to sort out how much of that is coming from the right motives and how much is me wanting to fall into line with the push of the culture today. Still letting this one fester in my brain, thanks for the help!
I think the advantage of purchasing a house is not so much the security, but making good use of the money provided at the moment by God. There are many ways that owning(paying off) your own house can put you on the edge – who lives there with you… That is to say like Christina as long as the mortgage isn’t too high. It never stops you moving on – you know we have done that many times.
Chicks love a guy with his own house…
Oh! This is about you being available for God… I thought you were saying your were ava… how embarrassing. Ignore that email I sent. I’m busy on Friday anyway.