May 16, 2011 - Eliminate the Excess

I have been reading the book Radical with some of my students and one of the challenges involves finances. Some may wonder why I would even go over stewardship of finances with a bunch of middle school students; after all they don’t have an income stream…

Yet the challenge is not based around how much money one has (or doesn’t have) as much as it is about priorities and distribution. The book deals heavily with how much excess we as the American church spend that corresponds more with the “American dream” than the Biblical ideal.

Very simply put, there are 26,000 kids that will die today of malnutrition or preventable disease. Around 1 billion people are striving to live on less than $1 per day (and another 2 billion on less than $2 per day.) And we as the church spend around $10 billion a year on buildings…

With the students I reminded them of what a difference could be made through simple adjustments. What if we chose for the next year to order water instead of a soft drink or tea, and skipped the french fries. We would be saving as much as many people live on for a day and that could be put toward serving (not to mention the health benefits to us.)

Simply put the goal is to eliminate excess so we can meet needs. It reminded me of something I am sure I have probably written about over the years…

As a basketball trainer I consistently talk to players about wasted motion. Players tend to want to spend way too much time doing things that are getting them nowhere. For instance when a player catches the ball on the wing and faces up to the basket, many times I will see guys put the ball on the floor and take multiple dribbles just to get going. As a trainer/coach I simply want them to pound the ball one time and finish at the rim (with authority!) In other words the main objective is getting to the goal and that requires eliminating some things.

As believers there is no debate that we should be spreading the Gospel and meeting needs of others. It is simply time for us to eliminate some stuff and get “to the goal.”

So what about you? Are you willing to give some things up and give to some needs? Make a plan!

Read Matthew 25:31-40 for a better challenge straight from the mouth of Christ…