Enough to Share

Philippians 4:11b-13

I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it
is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I
have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of
being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

What does “contentment” feel like? This is a difficult question in our current culture.
When surveys have asked “How much is enough?” responses have consistently been
“Twenty percent more than I have now.” If that is true, how do we break the endless
circle that this leads us toward—it is always “twenty percent more.” We are told over
and over every day—“You don’t have enough…What you have is fragile and could be
gone at any moment…You have to go get more!” These messages come from a world
focused on scarcity.

In this setting how do we understand our relationship with God? God is creator—we are
God’s creatures. How do we live in relationship with our creator? Martin Luther reminds
us in his explanation of the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed “that God has created
me and all that exists…God daily and abundantly provides…all the necessities and
nourishment for this body and life…out of pure, fatherly, and divine goodness and
mercy, without any merit or worthiness of mine at all!” It is in this relationship that we
recognize that God has abundantly provided us with all that we need. Living in that
abundance we give of the blessings we have received.

If we focus on the scarcity, we never have enough. When we focus on God’s abundant
blessings, there is more than we can ever imagine. Recognizing God’s abundant
blessings we experience Paul’s message to the Philippians in our own lives. We can be
content with what we have because we know that we are blessed and can “do all
things through him who strengthens us.”

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Acting Together

John 13:34-35

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

In the upper room, at the Last Supper, Jesus gives this new commandment to his disciples, to love one another. They (we) are to love one another “as he has loved” them (us). It is about witness to the world. It is how the world around us will see and know that we are disciples of Jesus. This commandment is about community. It is about the common good. It is about our living as disciples of Jesus. He commands that we follow him together. He commands us to love one another.

These are strange and foreign words in a culture that worships individualism. It is an odd concept in an economy that is based on the premise that the one who dies with the most “things” wins. It is hard to comprehend this commandment in a time where we all seek something more—more house, more car, more status, more power, more “stuff.” In this drive for “more” we find ourselves isolated and feeling alone. We are driven to protect our stuff. So we fear our neighbor, we build higher fences and security systems, we live in fear of losing what we have accumulated.

Jesus commands us to love one another—he calls us into relationships, he calls us into his community. His command is to love one another “as he has loved us!” In this community we move into relationship with Jesus and one another.

This truly is a radical command—in our culture of individualism, none of us has enough. We all are driven to get more. But in this community of Jesus’ disciples, we begin to see that God provides us with more than enough!

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Facing the Truth

 Scripture verses to read: Psalm 51, Mark 4: 37-41

When our lives feel out of our control, we often feel afraid, as if we are caught in a storm.

Can you hear Jesus’ question during the stormy times in your life? “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”

Look at all that God does in our lives. Where do we focus? On the wind and waves? Can we focus instead on what God provides?

Can we cling to the truth that He is with us always, no matter what?

A music video for the song “Praise You in the Storm"

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Following Jesus 

Scripture verses from Matthew 6:25-33

“Do Not Worry”

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches the crowds and his disciples about their relationship with God and their discipleship in the world. In these verses, Jesus speaks about how God provides for our every need and how undue concern for our possessions can get in the way of our living as his disciples.

These words speak to us today as we wrestle with the daily realities of our lives. We often find ourselves over-scheduled, over-extended, and over-drawn. Our lives are cluttered with too many commitments, too many possessions. We can be consumed by it all—we wonder “Will I have enough?” We fear not wearing the right clothes, not driving the right car, not having the latest electronic toy, not living in the right house. Too often our things define who we are.

Jesus comes to us in the midst of our fears and announces—“Do not worry! God has provided for all of your needs!” What does it mean for us to live in relationship with Jesus? How might our daily discipleship help us to live more simply, trusting in God’s abundance?

Video with a reflection about these scripture verses: