The Discipleship Dare @ Grace in Bel Air, MD - Day #4 - Sell Your Possessions

(Join the pastors of Grace as we post "Facebook Notes" (& blogs) for our 40 days of discipleship. Please interact with these notes (& blogs). They are based on the book: The Discipleship Dare: Living Dangerously for God - http://thediscipleshipdare.com/ - we are reading together as a church.)

I am sore today. Yesterday I helped a family from the church fill their moving truck. They lived in one particular house for almost 11 years. They accumulated many possessions. Some purposefully and others accidentally. I am not sure how we did it, but we filled a tractor trailer size container!

Jesus never condemned owning possessions or storing up wealth. He condoned looking to God for the sanctification in life material possessions and money brings. There should not be a dollar amount more valuable than God or a possession more sacred than God. If you can't sell it, than don't keep it. (I am not talking about objects that are memories, etc.).

I had to sell my most prized possession to pursue God's calling on my life. It was a 1990 Volkswagen Corrado. It was a two door sports car. It was supercharged, with rims, a stereo and much, much, much more. That car owned me I did not own it. I sold it to pay for a portion of my gradate school degree (seminary).

I do not buy anything, I will not sell to do something for God. How about you?

The Discipleship Dare Day #4 - Less is More

Jesus lived with next to nothing to his name yet gave the world something of eternal value. What he gave the world will never rust or rot. It's literally fireproof! He lived a life modeling the principle: less is more. Am I like Jesus in this area of my life? Are you like Jesus in this area of your life? It's easy for me to live with more and give less instead of living with less so that I can give more. How about you?

There is joy from living with "less" that's impossible to achieve when living with "lots." The dare to sell your possessions has challenged me to the core. I know Jesus did not mean literally unless you literally own possessions that hinder your progress as a follower of Christ.

Jesus is calling us to live like a salesman who would sell the shirt off his back if it meant getting the sale. Obviously I am not taking about making money but making meaning in this life. Imagine if we had the mentality like the salesman I mentioned above with the things we owned. Imagine if we held our possessions with respect yet not with a tight first? How tight are you holding your possessions? You can check how tight your grip by posing those things that are hindering you from God on craigslist for sale? Try it. Let me know what happens.