God has been teaching me a lot of things here lately. I don’t know about the rest of you but this has been a really tough month. I have never experienced so many emotions at once. I have decided to sell most of my clothes to help raise the rest of the money I owe for the trip. This proving to be very humbling. As I was trying to decide which clothes to sell the Bible verses Luke 12:33-34 was brought to my mind. It says; “Sell what you have and give alms (to the poor); provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not grow old, where no thief apporaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” After reading these verses I felt a HUGE peace come over me. I decided to pick out even more clothes. I sold all my name brand clothes. I still have a pretty good bit that I will be selling in a yard sell. Anyway this is not what I am writing this blog.
I have been getting a lot of negative responses or feedback about this. People keep saying things like “what are you gonna wear?” or “you may need those when you get back.” My only response is that God will provide. He takes care of the birds and the flowers, why would he forsake me. I am having a hard time understanding why this is such a big deal to people. I do not need all those clothes. Now, lets just say packing will be easy for me. Even some people who are elders in the church do not fully support me in this descision. My thing is is that Jesus tells us to. I mean He was talking to his disciples, but if He commanded them to do it, why would He not want us to do it as well. It breaks my heart.
My heart is aching right now to the point of tears. People know what the Bible says, but just simply refuse to listen and obey. They only hear what they want to hear and when something slips up that they do not want to hear they just ignore it. (I too am guilty of this so please understand where I am coming from). Then too, are we taught the truth? And if and when we are, are we taught how to live the truth? My heart is tearing inside my chest. I do not think that I have ever been taught what a true Christian is and what it REALLY means to be one.
No one around me understands what I feel or where I am coming from but God. When I say something that is truth like we need to put Jesus first no matter what people get uncomfortable. They like to say that they agree, but they want to warm it over or something and not really live it.
I challenge everyone who reads this to really think about what a Christian is. What the BIBLE says a Christian is and how one should live thier life. Please do not get this confused with things that you have just been told. Read your Bible and Pray for God to show you. God is calling us to be more than we can ever imagine. Listen to His call. Listen to His Word. Trust Him.
lol. I love this. It makes a lot of sense. You made me smile when you texted me and told me you were selling your clothes. It made me think of lots of things and I loved how you had honestly prayed about it as you texted back the above mentioned verse in Luke. It was awesome.
This reminds me of the verse in Isaiah, Matt, and Mark (matt. 15:8-9, Isaiah 29:13, Mark 7:6-7)
“These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men. you have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”
Something God challenged me with when I was younger was…. What was my worship, my lifestyle composed of? Was my walk with Christ merely made up of rules taught by man, was my worship in church, made up by rules taught by man, afraid to make a fool of himself? What about my heart?
Something I ask God is… “teach me to worship and Love me as YOU want me to love you and worship you, not as man wants me to.”
This is amazing and it makes me think of 2 Corinthians 6:3-8. We are going to face trials but as long as we are living like Christ and imitating Him then no one can come up against the ministry that He has birthed within us. I thank God for the struggles, it lets me see Him differently and I grow from it. It’s a challenge to see how bad we really want what God has promised us…with that being said, we have to pray and fast to seek Him.
Wow Codi! This is great. It sounds like God has been teaching you a lot. I think he has something to say to all of us through this because I think this summer will be packed with things that we can never imagine. But we have to completely sell out to God to experience them.
And p.s. I was thinking about selling my clothes too. So you have inspired me. I think I really will do it now. Thanks for sharing your heart!